Ten Years
by nightxxxlover
Summary: They came together under unusual circumstances, but Jessica's history with the Drake brothers goes way back. They were her best friends. Sam became so much more than that though, when he died it felt like her whole world had come crashing down. Now ten years had passed. What would happen if she got more shot at happiness? (Because Sam is amazing and he deserves a love interest.)
1. Chapter 1, The return

_A/N: This is a story I just started, I am not sure how far I will take it. It follows the same plotline as the game. I did change to timeline of the game some. Instead of Sam being gone for 15 years, He is only gone for 10 in my story and obviously Sam has a love interest in this story. The story is rated T, there may be some graphic scenes in later chapters but I will double post those as standalone's on my page. So basically this story gets the TV censored version of those scenes but I will post the full uncensored scene separately for those who wish to read it._

 _EDIT: I had to make some changes to this chapter after I realized I named my character after Nathan and Elena's daughter. I also added the playlist I listened to while writing this chapter._

Chapter 1

"This is a bad idea Sam and you know it!" She yelled at him. "Jessica, would you just try to listen to reason. This is the only way in." Sam pleaded with her. "We go in get the artifact and then get out. That castle is the key to finding Avery's treasure, without it we have nothing." Jessica paced back and forth across their small apartment shaking her head silently disagreeing with him. "You want to find this treasure just as bad as we do so what's the problem?" She stopped abruptly turned to face him hands on her hips. "My problem is you letting yourself be locked up in a prison, in fucking Panama! Oh and let's not forget you are relying on that ass hat Rafe to get you out!" She yelled exasperatedly. Sam approached her, slowly with his hands up so as not to set her off again. When she didn't immediately object he laid his hands on shoulders. "Jess it's going to be fine, Rafe isn't so bad. Don't forget he will be in there with us, I have no doubt he will have an airtight plan set up for escape once we get what we need." She rolled her eyes and looked away, her arms crossed saying she was still unsure. "Look at me." He said firmly. "Jess, look at me." She didn't comply, so he grabbed her chin and turned her head towards him. "Do you trust me?" He questioned. "Of course I trust you!" She argued. "That's not the issue, you agreed to this even though you knew I was against it! We are supposed to be a team, me you and Nate, I can't even be there to help you guys this time. If you would just give me a little more time I know we can find another way to get this done."

He took a step back and ran his hand over his face, he was exhausted they had been having this fight for a week straight now. Rafe and Nathan would be here any minute to pick him up and head to the airstrip. He knew she was angry now, and would be even angrier when he walked out of the door, but he would make it up to her when he got back in a few weeks. "Are you even listening to me?" She asked. "Jess, its done. I will be back before you know it." He grabbed her hands in his and brushed his fingertips over the ring on her left hand. She still refused to meet his eyes. Oh yeah, he was going to be paying for this for a long time. "Once we get Avery's gold we will go on a trip just the two of us. Hell maybe we will even elope. Someplace nice, like Italy." He said drifting off into thought. She deserved a nice wedding and with the money, he would finally be able to afford one. He may not have been after the gold for monetary reasons, but the prospect of money certainly didn't hurt.

"So that's it then, is this what our future looks like? You just making decisions for both of us? I don't get a say?" She said far to calmly for his liking. He was used to the yelling, that he could deal with. She was quick to anger but calmed down equally as fast. This was unchartered territory; he wasn't really sure how to diffuse this situation. A knock on the door ripped him from his thoughts. "Knock knock." Rafe said as he let himself in with Nathan right behind him "This is bullshit Sam and you know it." She said quietly the fight having died out of her. "Uh oh trouble in paradise." Rafe chuckled. Sam shot him a glaring look to shut him up. Rafe threw his hands up. "Alright I get I'll wait outside. See you later princess." He said to Jessica who refused to look at him. "Jessi you worry too much." Nathan interrupted with a little nervous chuckle at the end of the sentence. Jessica turned around sharply to yell at Nathan, "Shut it Nate!" Sam sighed, "little brother you might want to wait outside." Nathan hurried outside, he had never liked being in the middle of their fights. He always felt like he had to take ones side over the other.

After the door shut again Sam spoke. "I promise you Jess when I get back I will make it right, but I have to leave now." He grabbed her gently and pulled her in for a kiss, she didn't stop him but she didn't kiss him back either. When he pulled away he could see the tears in her eyes that she was refusing to let fall. He picked up his bag from the couch and slung it over his shoulder. He turned back towards her to say goodbye and she grabbed his hand placing her ring in his palm. He stood there for a moment not sure what to say. She didn't mean it, she couldn't. It sure wasn't the first time she had threatened to leave him; over the years he had given her plenty of reasons. "Take it." She said. "I don't want it anymore, not if it is going to be like this." "Jess don't be like this, you're overreacting." He replied. When she refused to take the ring back he simply laid it on the table next to them. Rafe chose this exact moment to pop back in. "We don't have all day Sam; the plane is leaving in 45." He noticed the ring lying abandoned on the table and smirked before leaving again. "Look I will be back in three weeks. I know you are upset but I have to go. Ok?"

She didn't say anything and just stared at him, any tears that might have been there were gone and all he could see was her pulling away from him. He quickly kissed her cheek "I love you Jess, you know that." Then he took one last look at the ring on the table and walked out.

Nathan, and Rafe were waiting for him on the other side of the door. "Trouble in paradise?" Rafe Questioned mockingly. They heard something shatter against the other side of the door. "You have no idea." Sam said in response. Yeah, he was definitely going to pay for this one, maybe he would buy her that motorcycle she had been wanting. On the other side of the door Jessica was sitting amongst the pieces of the broken vase she had thrown at it. She whispered knowing he couldn't hear her, "I love you too."

6 Weeks Later

Jessica was sitting in front of the TV with a beer, if you had asked her what was on she wouldn't have been able to tell you. It had been six whole weeks since they left for Panama and Sam had insisted it would not take more than three or four at the most. She had gotten a single text from Nathan when they made it Panama. Once again Nathan was being used as the middle man. She spent the first month coming up with new ways to get back at Sam when he returned. She thought about packing his things and taking them to Nathan's, because there was no way her was sleeping with her. She thought about burning all of his clothes, she even thought about changing the locks.

At the five week mark she began to get worried, she hadn't heard anything and she had been manically checking her phone every thirty minutes. At the end of that sixth week she was fighting the worry by picturing Sam begging for forgiveness, because there was no way he wasn't coming back. She looked at the clock for the hundredth time that day, it was almost eleven. She knew she should be tired; it was getting late but she hadn't been sleeping much lately.

Her beer was far from cold at this point but she kept sipping on it anyways. "He will have to crawl on his knees and beg." She said to no one in particular since she was alone. "He is taking me to Italy too…on a private jet." She glanced back at the ring still on the table. She had wanted to make a statement by leaving it there, but she missed the feel of it on her hand.

Suddenly she heard a knock on the door. She jumped up and rushed over to it. She threw it open prepared to lay into Sam but Nathan was standing there instead. She scoffed, "Oh look its tweedle dee, and where may I ask is tweedle dum? Hiding in the bushes somewhere waiting to see if I'm still mad?" Nathan looked down at his feet. "Jessi" She cut him off "No, Nathan I'm not doing this with you. Where is he, is he too scared to face me himself?" Nathan walked past her into the apartment. She looked around outside before shutting the door. "What's going on?" Nathan turned to her with a strained look on his face. He had dark circles under his eyes and she could tell he had slept in his clothes. "Jessi, he is gone."

She looked at him confused. "What like he left to find the treasure without us, is Rafe with him?" "No, I mean he didn't make it. Sam is Dead Jessi." His facial expression didn't change as he uttered those words. Emelia didn't quite understand what he was saying. Surely there was some misunderstanding. "What are you saying?" She said moving closer to him almost like she was trying to hear him better. "Everything was going smoothly until we tried to leave, the warden he got greedy and Rafe…well he shot him. In minutes we had every guard in the place on our tails. There was a boat waiting for us…we were so close. I could see the boat, but Sam he got shot. It all happened so fast I was pulling him up and then I heard the shots…there was blood and then he fell." The words rushed out of him like he was still trying to process the event himself.

Emelia didn't know what to say, her eyes were locked on the ring lying on the table. She picked it up, "I told him, I told him not to trust Rafe. He never listens to me." She said very softly. That wasn't right though she thought to herself. That was thinking in present tense, Sam was dead so it was past tense. "He never listened." Nathan was staring at the wall lost in his own grief, she noticed the tears that were starting to roll down his face. Oh god, this was real. It wasn't a joke; Sam was really gone. "This can't be happening. Are you sure?" She questioned begging him with her eyes to say something different.

"I'm sure Jessi! I saw him spitting up blood, his shirt was drenched in blood and he had to have fallen at least three stories!" He yelled. Jessica flinched at the anger in his voice and held the ring to her chest. "Shit, I'm sorry Jessi, I'm so sorry." He rushed to catch her as she fell to her knees. They held each other on the floor both crying silently, taking a small comfort in their shared pain.

10 Years Later

Nathan was sitting in the office trying to finish up some paperwork before heading home for the night. They were closed but someone was persistently knocking on the door. "Alright, I'm coming." He sighed aggravated all he wanted to do was go home. "Asshole." He opened to door to find a man in a blue jacket pretending to be interested in some papers lying loose on the table. "Can I help you?" Nathan asked not even trying to hide the aggravation in his voice. The man turned around "Yeah, I'm looking for my little brother, he is about your height, a little leaner, he's got a little less grey in the temples." The man said with a small smile. "Sam?" Nathan asked in shock. "It's good to see you again little brother." Nathan rushed his brother to hug him. "Whoa there take it easy." Sam exclaimed.

A few hours later the sun was going down and Nathan had agreed to help Sam find Avery's treasure in order to save his life. They were sitting silently looking out at the water. "How… how has Jess been?" Sam questioned, unsure if he wanted to know the answer. It had been ten years, she thought he was dead. He knew she had moved on by now. "She is doing ok, now. It took her awhile, she… well she didn't take it too well." Nathan shook his head. "I think she blamed herself. She blamed Rafe too, refused to have anything to do with him." Nathan replied he leaned forward and turned his head to his brother. "She wasn't too happy when I kept working with him to find the treasure. I caught a lot of shit for that one." He said with a small laugh trying to make light of the situation.

Sam returned to laugh halfheartedly. "That sounds about right. Where is she living these days, is she married?" He asked unsure what he wanted to answer to be. He had always hoped she was happy, even if it wasn't with him. That didn't mean it wouldn't hurt like hell to know she was with someone else.

"Nah man she isn't; she has a house near here but never stays there for very long. She travels a lot, but she is actually in town right now. Elena and I are supposed to meet her for dinner later this week. Sam felt the breath he had been holding in leave him in a rush. She was here, in the same town as him after ten years. She wasn't married either, he doubted she would even speak to him though. Not with the way he left things.

"Sam?" Nathan questioned, "you know we have to tell her, right?" He joked, "If she finds out you are alive from anyone else she will kill us both." Sam didn't answer but thought to himself she might prefer if he stayed dead. "Besides we are going to need her, she has the kind of connections I can't even dream of. She can get us anything we need with just a few phone calls." Sam smiled. "No shit, what does she do?" He asked.

"A little bit of everything, she makes most of her money acquiring hard to find items for people with too much money." Nathan explained. "Do you remember how good she was with locks?" Sam nodded his head. "Well now she can get past some of the best security systems they make" Nathan exclaimed. Sam didn't say anything and just continued to stare out at the water. "I will give her a call and see if she can meet us tonight. Right after I can think of what to tell her." Five minutes later his phone was dialing her number.

"Hey Nate, what's up?" Jessica said when she answered the phone. Sam was close enough to Nathan that he could hear her voice on the other end. His gut clenched in response, he never thought he would hear that sound again.

"Hey Jessi, I was just wondering how long it would take you to get over to my office?" Nathan asked. "What tonight?" She responded. "Yeah, it's pretty important that we talk tonight." Nathan said giving a glance to his brother. "If this is about a job you know what my answer is going to be." She answered. "No its just… can you just come meet me?" He tried again. "Ok, ok no need to be so pushy." Nathan and Sam both sighed at the same time in response. One out of relief the other out of anxiety. "Alright thanks, you remember how to get here right?" "Yeah, I can be there in twenty. See you in a few." She said before hanging up. "She is on her way." Nathan stated. "Yeah, I heard." Sam answered. "Now comes the hard part." Nathan snorted, "that's understating things a bit."

Exactly twenty minutes later they heard the sound of a car pulling up. Sam felt himself starting to lose his nerve and that's when he saw her. Her hair was longer but other than that she looked exactly the way he remembered. Dark brown hair, long legs and all. She was wearing skintight black jeans a black sequin top a green jacket and black knee high boots. "Shit" He panicked and turned around and leaned over the railing. What if she refused to help them? What if she wouldn't even speak to him? "Sam, you alright?" Nathan asked. "Yeah, I just need a minute."

Jessica pulled up to the salvage company Nathan worked at and got out of her car. She was always surprised to hear that he still worked at this pace whenever she talked to either him or Elena. Honestly she felt like they were both kidding themselves with this normal life thing they had going on, it all seemed so boring to her. As long as they were both happy she kept her mouth shut though. Those two were the only family she had left.

Her mom had died a long time ago and her dad was an abusive prick that liked to beat on her when she was a kid. It's actually how she hooked up with Nathan and Sam. She had a knack for picking locks and they had a knack getting into trouble. She helped them bust into book store one night and they were fast friends after that. Now all she had were Nathan and Elena, they were the ones that kept her grounded. Whenever she felt like spiraling one of them was there to catch her.

She shook off the cobwebs from her past and kept walking. She heard voices coming from the side and walked toward them. She saw Nathan and one other man standing outside. The other man instantly turned away when he saw her which put her on edge.

This better not be about a job, she thought to herself. Once she got close enough she spoke "Alright Drake, what's so important it couldn't wait until tomorrow?" Nathan smiled at her. "Do I not even get a hi, nice to see you?" Jessica smirked at him. "You're looking older; do I see grey hairs?" Nathan pulled her into a bear hug. "It's great to see you too Jessi." She laughed and pushed him away. "Seriously Nate it's not that I wasn't happy to hear from you. but why did you drag me out here? And who is your friend?" "Ok, now try to stay calm." Nathan requested.

"Why do I need to stay calm?" She asked taking a step back. "This is about a job isn't it?" Nathan struggled to find the words to explain. "So it is then?" She said beginning to get angry. "Jessi just stop it's not like that." Nathan defended. "So it isn't a job?" She said her eyes narrowing.

"Well, I mean it kind of is, but that's not the only reason I called you." He sputtered. "God damn it Nate! What did I say? I'm not doing any more jobs with you. You are bad luck my friend like really bad luck." She argued.

Nathan momentarily forgot about his brother. "What! I am not bad luck." He defended. "You got me shot…In the ass!" She shouted with her finger pointed at him. Their conversation had become so animated that she didn't notice that the other guy was now watching them with a smile on his face. "How long are you going to keep throwing that in my face?" Nathan fought back. "oh gee, I don't maybe forever!" She yelled.

She knew he was up to something; she could always tell with him. The other guy cleared his throat, to remind them he was still there. It was dark out and she couldn't get a good look at his face, she felt like she had seen him before though.

"Now children settle down." The stranger interrupted. "Excuse me, sir? I don't know what bozo over here told you but you guys are on your own." She said heatedly. "Bozo, really! That hurts Emmy." Nathan voiced finally remembering why he had called her in the first place. The stranger stepped closer to her into the light. She could see his face clearly now, all of the blood rushed from her face. She felt lightheaded, and everything came rushing back to her. How could she not have recognized him from the moment she saw him. She still had dreams about him from time to time, someone once told her she said his name in her sleep. This was the man the man the lost her virginity to, the only guy she ever really loved.

"Sam?" She whispered barely loud enough to be heard. She took one step forward her arm outstretched. "It's me jess." He said in a shaky voice. She laid her hand on his cheek as if to make sure he was real. He closed his eyes and leaned into her caress, at the same time he ran his hand up her arm and held her hand against his face.

All to suddenly she jerked away. "What is this? He is supposed to be dead! You told me he was dead Nathan!" She said accusingly. "Hey calm down Jess. He didn't know." Sam said defending his brother. "He said you were shot, he described it like a scene from a horror movie, said there was blood all over you." She said crossly. Sam sighed, "really little brother? You had to tell her that way?" He questioned. "Hey! I was still in shock myself, and I did not say there was blood everywhere." Nathan said trying to defend himself. Sam pulled up his shirt again to show her the three round scars on his abdomen.

Jessica stepped closer again and ran her fingertips across them, like she was trying to make sure they were real. Sam sucked in a breath and stepped back quickly. That little touch was all it took and his blood was running hot. He knew he shouldn't be thinking of that right now but it had been over ten years, it didn't help that she showed up looking the way she did. "Alright, explain now! From the beginning." She demanded.

 _Playlist:_

 _NF- Paralyzed, Can you hold me_

 _Rihanna- Russian roulette_

 _Halsey- Is there somewhere_


	2. Chapter 2, The heist

_A/N: Just in case you didn't see the changes I made to chapter one I will explain them here too. I changed the name of my OC because I realized she had the same name as Nathan and Elena's daughter. No it was not on purpose just a happy accident, I changed it because it felt kind of weird and forced. These first two chapters don't have any action any them, but I promise there will be plenty coming up._

Chapter 2

"So you are telling me you have been out for two months now and you are just now letting us now you are alive?" Jessica questioned Sam. "It's not like that Jess, it took me some time to track Nathan down and I figured you had moved on with your life." Sam responded. "Plus I had to track down the other cross, so we can go after Avery's treasure."

"Unbelievable, is that all you thought about in prison?" Jessica said shaking her head. "Look Sam I'm glad you are alive and out of prison, but I can't do this. Nothing good can come out of starting this back up again." She got up signaling she was done with the conversation.

"Jessi" Nathan spoke, "they are going to kill him."

"Let her go little brother we don't need to drag her into to this," Sam said.

"Who is going to kill who and why?" Jessica asked confused. "A drug lord named Alcazar, if Sam doesn't find the gold and give him a half, Alcazar will kill him."

Jessica turned her attention to Sam who was looking at the ground. She wanted so badly just to turn around, she had a bad feeling about this. She had from the beginning, some things were just better left as a mystery. It was Sam, though; she couldn't even count how many times she had laid awake at night wondering if there were anything she could have done differently to keep him alive. Now he was here right in front of her, still breathing. What if she said no and neither of them came back? She would never be able to live with the guilt.

Sam held his breath, he hated lying to them like this. It was bad enough he had to lie to his brother but Jessica? If she didn't hate him now she would if she ever found out the truth. Nathan he knew would forgive him once they found the gold, he was the only one who knew why it was so important to him. He had never bothered trying to explain to Jessica because she couldn't possibly understand. It felt like hours had passed as they stood there in silence, he looked up to see Jessica staring intently at him. He couldn't read her, had no idea what she was thinking. It bothered him almost as much as her silence, he could always tell what she was thinking before. Well, almost always. If anything it just highlighted the fact that so much time had passed. They had both changed for better or worse.

Jessica let out an exasperated breath, "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. I must be crazy."

Nathan smiled at her, "I knew you couldn't say no."

"I'm only doing it to keep you two idiots alive. Not for any other reason." She proclaimed. Sam laughed, it was starting to feel like the old days. "Well, just for that I will do my best to ensure you don't get shot in the ass."

"Very funny." She replied not impressed. "To be fair she didn't really get shot in the ass, the bullet ricocheted off of a cliff face," Nathan added. "A bullet still hit me, Nate! So I would call that being shot."

Nate grumbled. "Would you just let it go already."

"I will let it go when you take a bullet to the ass, how about that?" She argued her hands on her hips. Nathan threw his hands up in defeat knowing he could never win.

"So what's the plan?" Jessica asked.

"We head to Italy, the Rossi estate to be exact." Sam chimed in.

"The Rossi estate? You are joking right? Do you even know what kind of people attend black market auctions like those? Because I do, in fact, I've worked for a few of them. They are not the kind of people you want to steal from." She stated.

The two men simply stared at her. "You are really ok with this Nathan, what about Elena?" Jessica asked. "It's for Sam Jessi, he needs our help, he is running out of time."

"See this is why I don't do business with Drake's anymore. You're senseless both of you" She griped in protest.

Three days Later

Italy

"Still no sign from Sullivan," Sam remarked.

"He will come through don't worry about it, anyways Jessi is with him," Nathan replied.

"Hey, he could just as easily screw her over along with us," Sam argued. "Oh really? Would you want to double cross her?" Nathan said with a pointed look on his face. "Good point." Sam mused. "Just trust me ok, he will come through."

Nathan took the binoculars from his brother and watched for the signal from sully. "See there it is." He pointed to a window where a flashing light could be seen. Sam grumbled, "Just try to keep your tux clean.

Inside

Elena walked around the edge of the crowd on the ground floor, keeping an eye out for Sully to return with Sam and Nathan. She recognized one or two people she was acquainted with and shook her head. Why did she let them talk her into this? It had to be their worst plan yet, and they had come up with some pretty bad ones. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the trio approaching her from her left side. She couldn't help but notice the fact that Sam was wearing a suit, or that he looked damn good in said suit. "So I'm guessing Sully has already told you about the lot order?" She asked rhetorically.

"Yes, and we have a plan," Nathan answered. "I am going to shut off the power, while Sam here dressed as a waiter will be standing in the front ready to grab the cross as soon as the lights go out."

Jessica looked at them both in disbelief. They couldn't really be proud of this plan, could they? She looked back and forth between the two. "This wasn't your idea was it?" She looked at sully already knowing the answer. This had Drake written all over it. "I wouldn't dream of taking that credit." He responded gruffly.

"I can understand why. Alright then let's do it." She said. "I will keep any eye on the floor while Sully gets you into the cellar."

Jessica watched as the three crossed the room to the server's corridors only to return minutes later. "What's the problem?" She questioned.

"The door is locked." Nate supplied. "So?" Jessica said sarcastically.

"What do you mean so? Yours the lock expert why don't you pick it?" Nate replied.

"You don't just pick a lock like that Nate, does it look like I have anything on me capable of bypassing a door like that." She said motioning to the dress she was wearing. "You need to find a key card."

Sam had noticed the dress she was wearing, and he could see there was no way she was hiding anything under it. It was skin tight black number with a lace back, the lace material actually ran up the sides as well and when she was standing the right way you could see the sides of her breasts. You could see every curve in that dress. He also noted the silver chain she was wearing. He hadn't seen her take it off since he had been back.

"Alright give me a second to think." Nate searched the crowd until his eyes fell on a male waiter crossing the floor near them. "There, he has a key card in his back pocket." He pointed to the man. "I'll go grab it."

"You? I thought we agreed I was the better pick pocket?" Sam asked surprised. "I can pick a waiters pocket," Nate exclaimed in a slightly offended tone. "Ok, give it a try hotshot," Sam said stepping to the side to let Nathan pass. "This should be good," Jessica muttered. Sam laughed quietly in agreement. They watched as Nathan tried and failed multiple times to get close enough to grab the card without being seen.

Nathan came back to the group defeated shrugging his shoulders. "Alright watch the master little brother," Sam said cracking his knuckles in an exaggerated movement. "No, I've got it. If I leave it up to you two we will be here all night." Jessica said pushing her small handbag into Sam's chest. "Be a dear and hold my purse will you?"

Sam stood dumbstruck clutching her purse to his chest as he watched her saunter over to the waiter. "What just happened?" he questioned. "I'm not really sure," Nathan responded. Sully just chuckled "Watch and learn boys." So they did, they saw Jessica approach the waiter, not attempting to hide her presence. She grabbed a glass of champagne from his tray and started a conversation with the man. Much to his annoyance Sam noticed her lean in with her free hand on his shoulder and whisper in his ear. When she pulled away they were both laughing and looking at a man standing a few feet from them. That's when Jessica excused herself from the man and let her hand slide down his arm before breaking contact. Much to their surprise, she was able to smoothly slip the card from his back pocket as she walked past him.

"See how easy that was." She said holding up the key card. "I could have done it in less time." Sam shot back irritated. As much as he disliked her methods he had to admit, she had managed to make getting the card look pretty effortless. He wondered how often she did this sort of thing. He didn't realize he had voiced his query out loud until she spoke. "As often as I need too, and sometimes just when I'm bored." She smirked handing the card over to him. He watched as she turned her attention back to the crowd carefully studying it. To an outsider, she might appear to be bored with the whole event, but he could see how carefully she was watching their surroundings.

"Alright, boys let's go," Sully said ushering the two younger men back to the door. A few minutes later Sully was back and he handed her an earpiece like the ones she knew he had given Nathan and Sam. "You enjoy messing with them don't you," Sully said with a smile. Before she put the earpiece in she responded. "Everything is different now, its…awkward you know? When I'm making jokes or teasing them I almost feel like things are the way they used to be." Sully nodded. "I can understand that." She slipped her earpiece in ending the conversation.

What she didn't realize was that Sam, Nathan could hear her through Sully's earpiece. Neither brother mentioned it, though, other than a slight tensing in Sam's shoulders and the quick glance Nathan gave him, you wouldn't even know they had heard.

Jessica finished off her glass of champagne and looked around for another waiter. "What's a girl have to do to get a drink around here." She asked sarcastically. "Oh, I don't maybe you could flirt with another waiter." Sam chimed in. "If that's what is takes." She jested. He sounded like he was joking but she felt like she heard a little bitterness in his tone as well. "I'm going to take a walk around the room and grab another drink." Sully nodded. "I'll be here."

After doing a round of the room and acquiring another glass of champagne she started to return to Sully when she heard him over the com talking to a woman. She watched as the woman left to get them drinks from the bar. "You hear that?" Sully questioned. "Yeah, a woman just offered to buy you a drink. What's the problem?" Nathan responded. Jessica half listened to the men go back and forth while her eyes followed the woman Sully called Nadine Ross, the name was unfamiliar to her. "What would a mercenary be doing here?" She wondered out loud. "I don't know but it can't be good. Be careful guys." Nathan said before ending communication.

Jessica decided to err on the side of caution and surveyed the area around the pair. She recognized a man named Marco whom she had done a few jobs for in the past. They had a friendly relationship, she made eye contact with him and smiled. He was a little over forty but looked pretty good for his age, they had slept together. it was only the one time but it was why she refused to do any more work for him. She would never make that mistake again. He was speaking with an older gentleman and when his eyes met hers he seemed pleasantly surprised. He made a motion signaling he would find her later.

"Sully who is your lady friend." Jessica inquired as she approached the pair.

"Ah, Jessica there you are." Sully greeted her. "Meet Nadine Ross. Nadine this is Jessica a friend of mine."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Nadine," Jessica spoke politely. "Likewise," Nadine replied. Jessica could tell Nadine wasn't too happy to be interrupted. The woman continued to speak as if she weren't there. Jessica pretended to act as if she were interested in the conversation when she noticed Sam enter the ballroom again this time in a Waiters uniform. She thought to herself there was no way anyone would believe he was a waiter. She had never minded his rough edges but they didn't make for a convincing waiter. Sully saw him as well and Nadine caught his interest and questioned him on it. Fortunately, she hadn't seen who he was looking at, not that she would recognize Sam, though.

"So when am I going to meet that partner of yours…Drake, wasn't it?" Nadine asked. "No, I've been flying solo for awhile now," Sully replied.

"Oh is he…dead?"

"Oh no nothing like that he is retired, last I heard he settled down and got married."

"Then he might as well be dead, right?" Jessica's blood ran cold at the voice she heard from behind her. She and Sully turned simultaneously to see Rafe Adler standing behind them smiling like the Cheshire cat. Could her night possibly get any worse?

"Victor Sullivan and Jessica Costa! What a surprise to see you too here." He commented shaking Victor's hand. He reached for Jessica's hand and she took a sip of her champagne ignoring the gesture outright. Rafe exhaled attempting to hide his annoyance. "How long has it been Jessi? Six, seven years?"

"I couldn't say." She replied, taking another sip of her drink. Her eyes were scanning the room as if she had lost interest in the conversation entirely. They briefly landed on Sam, giving nothing away but lingering long enough to see her was watching them sharply.

She saw Marco excuse himself from the group and make his way over to them. "Mi amor!" he said enthusiastically as he leaned in and kissed both of her cheeks rapidly. "Marco!" She replied in her most charming voice

"Como estas?" he inquired.

"Muy bien. Y tu?"

"Ah, bien." He laughed "Although I would be better if you had not left Spain. Who are your friends?"

"Oh I'm sorry, my manners are lacking tonight. Marco is my good friend Victor, and his friend Nadine." She said gesturing to the two as she introduced them. It was not lost on the group that she failed to introduce Rafe. No one addressed the slight, however. "Ah Victor, I had heard of you, from Jessica. It is nice to finally meet you." Marco commented.

Instead, Rafe introduced himself. "I'm Rafe, Rafe Adler. Jessi and I go way back don't we Jessi?" There was an edginess to his tone that bespoke his irritation but he maintained his smile. Jessica smiled at him if you could call it that.

"I am pleased to meet you all," Marco said smoothly. He slid his arm around Jessica's waist and leaned in to whisper in her ear. Or at least he attempted to whisper, he did not really lower his voice any.

"Quien es este hombre pequeno?" He asked. "No es nadie." She responded. They shared a laugh and glanced at Rafe who had turned his attention to Victor.

"Ah, Estaba preocupada de que tuviera que luchar por ti." Marco stated.

"No piensas tan poco de mí" she replied playfully slapping his shoulder, "Tengo mucho mejor sabor."

"May I steal you away for a moment?" He requested. "Of course, Sully I will be back in a few. It was nice to meet you, Nadine." She said. She gave a slight nod to Rafe before she allowed herself to be led off by Marco.

Sam watched the group closely as he listened in over the com. From the moment Rafe approached them jess had been tense. You wouldn't have noticed it unless you had been paying as close attention to her body language as he had all night. Rafe's body language had always been easy to read, every little slight she gave him pushed him closer to going off. Had she always hated Rafe this much, or was it a recent development?

It only made things worse when Marco joined the group, Sam was only a little surprised to hear Jess continue to slight Rafe in Spanish when she knew full well that Rafe spoke perfect Spanish. As much as Sam hated to see her being so intimate with another man, he was glad when she was pulled away by him. Did she not realize how dangerous Rafe was?

"Jess I know you don't care for Rafe but that was reckless. We are trying to keep a low profile here." He cautioned. Sam couldn't help but notice the way Rafe watched her as she walked away. The look was one of lust tinged with hatred and it made him uneasy. Had he always watched her like that? Was that why she had been so uncomfortable around him? Surely he would have noticed something like that he thought to himself.

Sam was so lost in his own thoughts he was barely listening to Rafe and Sully anymore. He quickly went on alert when he saw Rafe grab Sully to keep him from walking away.

"Just hold on sully," Rafe said quietly. "How did you find out about it?"

"It?" Sully replied playing dumb. "Now what it is that Rafe?" He laughed a little, "Nadine I think your partner here has had too many bloody marys's". As Sully finished his sentence Rafe knocked his drink from his hand and stepped towards him threateningly.

"Cut the bullshit old man!" He jabbed his finger into Sully's chest. "Now I don't know how you scammed your way into here and I don't know how Jessica is involved. But if you think… about bidding on Avery's cross I can tell you exactly how you are going to be leaving. In a goddamn body bag!"

"Rafe!" Nadine said cutting him off. They had drawn quite the crowd of onlookers due to Rafe's little outburst. Rafe took a look around and chuckled. "Well, you get my point."

Sully to his credit kept his calm and simply said, "Lovely seeing you both" before walking away.

Jessica both heard and saw Rafe's outburst, she couldn't help but feel a tad responsible. Sure Rafe was unstable on his best day and she knew how obsessed he was with finding Avery's treasure. But her taunting him could only have made his mood worse. "Excuse me Marco, but I have to go see to my friend." She said politely. "Si, that other man has a rather short fuse, does he not?" Marco replied understandingly.

"Sully, what the fuck was that?" She whispered harshly. "Things just got a lot more complicated." The man responded. "I thought you said Rafe couldn't know about the cross, Sam?' She questioned. "I don't know how he found out about it. I had no idea he would be here tonight." Sam said defensively. Jessica shook her head in anger as she made her way back to Sully. What the hell were they supposed to do now? Sully tried speaking to Nathan to no avail, he must be out of range.

The trio waited anxiously for Nathan to let them know he had made it to the power room. Sully and Jessica spoke about mundane things pretending to catch up with each other. While Sam kept an eye on Rafe and tried not to be noticed.

"Hey, guys you there?" Nathan finally said. "Goddamnit kid! Where the hell have you been?" Sully asked exasperatedly.

"I made it, had a few close calls but I'm in the power room." Nathan finally said. "Well, if you are going to cut the power, now would be a good time," Sully replied.

"Guys they are starting the bidding," Jessica said somewhat nervously.

"Alright, I'm going to need a minute, I can't reach the panel."

"We don't have a minute Rafe is about to walk out of here with your cross," Sully exclaimed. "Wait, What? Rafe?" Nathan asked confused. "Rafe is here?"

"Yes, and as of right now he has the highest bid." Sam chimed in.

"Well out bid him," Nathan said like it was the obvious thing to do. "With what?" Sully retorted, "I don't have that kind of scratch."

"Sully, we're stealing it, remember?" Nathan responded sardonically.

"And what if he calls the bluff?" Jessica said once again questioning Nathan's sanity.

Nate sighed over the com, "He won't."

Jessica and Sully exchanged a look that said they knew they were getting in over their heads.

 _Translation for Jessica and Marco's conversation in Spanish._

" _My love, how have you been?" Marco_

" _Very good, and you?" Jessica._

… _.._

" _Who is the small man?" Marco_

" _He is no one." Jessica_

" _I was worried I would have to fight him for you." Marco_

" _You cannot think so little of me? I have much better taste." Jessica._

Playlist for this chapter

Story of the year / Until the day I die.

Eve 6 / Think twice.

Fleurie / Hurts like hell.

Red / Never be the same.


	3. Chapter 3, Scotland

Chapter 3

"Guys if I do not get this cross, I'm as good as dead." Sam said anxiously. "Yeah well I end up with the highest bid and we're all dead." Sully retorted. "Sully, I need you to buy me more time." Nathan said.

The auctioneer spoke, "Since we have no other bids…"

"Trust me," Nathan asked. "Going once…." Sully shook his head. "Going twice…"

"Screw it." He exclaimed accepting whatever his fate might be and putting his paddle I the air.

Rafe shot them a scathing glare. "Oh my, we are so fucked if Nate doesn't get these lights out," Jessica said keeping a smile on her face, pretending it was the most normal thing in the world for Victor to bud against Rafe.

Without missing a beat, Rafe raised the bid by ten grand. "Screw it, in for a penny in for a pound," Sully said sighing. "Don't worry, you'll be out of there in no time," Nathan assured.

"I better be."

Rafe never broke eye contact the entire time he and Victor were bidding against each other, it was rather unsettling. "I feel like my skin should be melting off with the intensity of that glare." Jessica joked trying to lighten the mood. "Yeah, no kidding," Sully mumbled.

"We are no at 160,000 euros." The auctioneer stated.

"Hey man, starting to sweat bullets here," Sully said, becoming more anxious as the seconds went by. "Yeah, gimme a sec!" Nathan exclaimed.

"Alright, guys I'm at the switch. You ready?" He questioned.

"As I'll ever be." Sam replied softly, "You guys?"

"Just do it already!" Jessica said through clenched teeth.

"Just a sec," Victor said a mischievous smile on his face. "Sully, what are you doing?" She asked. He raised his paddle one last time looking smug. "Really?" She said in disgust, "Do you feel good about yourself now?" Sam chuckled but didn't say anything.

Rafe responded by raising the bid to 500,000 euros. "Let's get this show on the road." The irritation evident in his voice. He looked to Victor to see if he would raise the bid again. Victor made a gracious bowing gesture with his arms signaling he wasn't. "You had me worried for a minute there, Victor. I thought I might have to kill you!" Rafe joked eliciting a few laughs from the crowd.

"Ok, let's ruin this assholes evening," Sully responded his cigar covering the grin on his face. "Now we are talking." Jessica chuckled.

The power went out for no more than a minute and when they came back on the cross was gone, tucked safely away in Sam's waistband. Rafe looked stunned for a minute before turning sharply to catch Victor and Jessica slipping out of the ballroom doors discreetly. Before he could make it to the doors guards were posted at them stopping people from leaving.

"We really kicked the hornets' nest down here, security has the ballroom locked down tight," Victor claimed.

"Where is our getaway, Sully?" Nate questioned.

"Just meet us out front, follow the spotlights. I'll bring the car around."

Victor and Jessica made their way outside, luckily staying one step in front of the guards. If they had of been just a few seconds later they would have been trapped in that ballroom with Rafe. Jessica shivered, man, that was a scary thought. Rafe was a perfect example of what happened when a spoiled child grew up, he never outgrew his tantrums. They only got more violent.

"Victor where is your car?" She asked as she was pulling her by her hand towards the rows of parked cars. "Shh," he hushed her and shoved them both against the wall. She looked up and noticed the guard walking along the path above them. They waited, holding their breath until he passed by. "There," Sully said pointing at a white car not too far from their position. They made their way as quickly as possible over to the car trying not to be spotted.

"All right, we are in the car. Where the hell are you guys?" Victor said.

"Ah, just met your friend Nadine Ross. She's lovely." Nathan said he sounded to be out of breath. "Yeah? Well, its total chaos out here. They're trying to keep it contained, but everybody's freaking out. I don't mean to rush you but…hurry the hell up!" Sully barked at him. "I would like to second that...Where are all these guards coming from?" Jessica spoke suddenly distracted by all of the men rushing around trying to contain the

"Nathan where you at?" Sam asked in a rushed tone. "That's a good question, you?"

"By the ballroom. Look for this round sign thing, it's on the way."

"Round sign thing check." Nathan quipped. "The good news is I got a gun, see you soon," Sam told him.

Jessica couldn't tell what was going on but she heard a lot of gunfire, glass breaking and at one point she thought she could hear Nathan yelling. Sam and Nathan were talking so she assumed they had met up with each other finally. She felt like a quick and easy escape was out of the question now. People were filing out of the building now and all rushing to leave. The driveway was a madhouse now.

"Sully there is no way we are getting out this way." Jessica expressed her thoughts aloud.

He took a look around and cursed under his breath, she could see the wheels turning in his head. "All right boys, change of plan! Too many people trying to leave, the driveway's all jammed up."

"Shit, what's our backup?" Sam cursed. He could barely be heard over the gunfire. "There's that fountain just outside the ballroom. We'll meet you there!"

"Sully, the fountain? How are you getting us to the fountain?" Jessica asked confused. "Just hold on." He replied tightening his grip on the wheel. She did not like the sound of that. He took off in that direction gaining speed as he did so. She could hear increased gunfire over the com, based on that and the bits of conversation she was hearing from Sam and Nate she had a feeling they were surrounded. "Sully I don't know what you're planning but you need to do it now."

"Like I said, hold on!" Sully said through gritted teeth, he slammed on the gas pedal and she realized what his intention was. "Sully! Are out of your mind!" She screamed as they went headfirst into the wall. They went crashing through it and slid into the garden where the fountain was located. She flew into the passenger side door slamming her head against the glass when they came to a stop. "Jesus christ, Sully!" She yelled. "Could you at least give me a warning next time you plan on doing something like that? Fuck." She criticized while rubbing her head where she could already feel a knot forming.

"Well hello, beautiful whats a girl like you doing in a place like this?" Sam said with a grin on his face. Jessica turned to him with a look that said she thought he was crazy. Nathan jumped in the car right behind him and slammed the door behind him. "Go, go now!" Nathan shouted over the gunfire. The car was being sprayed with bullets. "Hang on!" Sully roared as he sped off down the path and slammed through the gate.

"So is anyone going to talk about Rafe and the fact that he has a literal army at his back?" She asked as they headed back to the hotel. "Rafe doesn't have the cross we do." Sam pointed out.

"This is Rafe we are talking about, he is not going to just give up, especially not after tonight. That man holds a grudge like nobody's business." She countered.

"Oh really. Then tell me, if you knew that why were you baiting him in the ballroom?" Sam argued. "I was not baiting him, and trust me I've said far worse to him before." She defended. "Yeah, you were. You and your Spanish boy toy might as well have been laughing right in his face. Who was that guy anyway?"

"Are you kidding me right now?" She asked angrily. "Guys come on, can you do this later, preferably in private?" Nathan said cutting them off. Jessica scoffed in a very unladylike manner and turned back around.

When they got back to their room at the hotel, Sully pulled out a bottle of scotch and a couple glasses. Jessica stalked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. "Hey, you want a drink?" Nate called through the door. "Yeah, I'll be out in a few." Leave it to Nate to play the peacekeeper once again.

She sighed, really it was herself she was angry with. Not Sam, seeing Marco at the auction had brought up something she would rather not think about. She had thought Sam to be dead for the last ten years. She may have never moved on, but eventually, there had been other men. It was just sex to her, no emotional attachment but still.

Now after being confronted with that realization, she felt like…a whore. The man she loved her on and off again fiancée had been in prison and she had been sleeping with other men. Her brain knew it wasn't logical to think that way, I mean she thought he was dead. She looked at herself in the mirror and suddenly hated the person she saw staring back at her. She pulled her hair down and then walked out refusing to look in the mirror again. She really needed that drink right about now. When she joined them at the table Sully passed her a glass and she took a big swig of it. Really she couldn't stand dark liquor, but in a pinch it got the job done.

"Ok." Sam grabbed the cross, "I really hope I don't go to hell for this." He joked. Then he broke the end of the cross off with a hammer. He looked inside of it and his face fell. "Shit." He muttered. "What?" Nate exclaimed. "It's empty," Sam said looking at it. "What do you mean?" Nate said confused.

Sam turned the cross while smirking and a scroll out. "Ah, you are such an asshole." Nathan laughed. "He's your brother," Sully said with a small smile on his face.

Sam took the scroll it had a red seal with a skull and crossbones. "Skull and crossbones that's a very good sign," Nathan stated. "That's Avery's insignia," Sam said getting excited. He broke the seal and unrolled the scroll. There were some symbols and Latin writing on the inside. Jessica had zero knowledge of Latin so she left the translating to Sam and Nathan. This was their territory.

"Join me in paradise…What about these numbers here?" Sam pointed at the scroll. "Some kind of code?" Victor commented. "Or a phone number?"

The guys shared a laugh. "C'mon guys, they're dates," Nathan stated like it was obvious. "Huh?" Sam said confused. "Look" Nate showed him. The dates were Avery's birth and death dates. "Which means…we are looking for Avery's grave." Sam shared his realization with the others. "At Saint Dismas' Cathedral…" Nathan added.

"Wait a sec, hasn't Rafe been scouring that site for years?" Sully questioned. "Yeah, the Cathedral, see these symbols these are found on old Scottish gravestones," Nate explained. "The graveyard is far enough away from the Cathedral we never thought to search it."

Sam laughed, "Rafe been focusing on the wrong area."

"Exactly" Nate commented.

"Guys," Sam said looking around the table. "We're going to Scotland."

"Are we forgetting that Rafe knows we are coming?" Victor countered. "We will deal with that when we get there," Nathan said brushing it off. "That psycho would like nothing more than for you guys to show up. Plus, he has Nadine and a whole army backing him up!" Victor looked at her as if looking as for her help.

"Oh no, don't look at me." She replied downing the rest of her drink. She poured herself another filling the glass a little more this time. "You can't tell me you think this is a good idea?" He asked. "I didn't say that. I just don't see any point in fighting the inevitable."

"Guys look, Rafe doesn't have this." He pointed to the map, "We won't be anywhere near his guys." Nate looked at them. "The biggest pirate treasure in history is within our grasp."

Jessica recognized that look in his eyes, it was the same one she saw in Sam's eyes all those years ago, the same one she had always seen in Rafe's eyes. "I thought this was about saving Sam?" She asked softly.

"It is," Nate answered. "But come on, it's both, right? We need the treasure so we can save Sam."

"How is Elena cool with all this?" Sully asked. Nathan sputtered like he was trying to find the right words. That was when they realized he hadn't told her. "Oh, Jesus, kid."

"Look it's just not that simple." He argued. Sully wasn't having it, "With all that you two have been through…" Nate cut him off, "She wouldn't understand this."

"How can she when you won't even give her the chance?" Jessica asked. "Look, I just can't take that chance." He said quickly "Really? And if we don't come back? What happens then?" She argued hotly.

Sam looked at her and realized they might be right. "Look, Nathan, they have a point. Things have changed. Rafe's involved now. And…I can take this on my own now." Nathans phone rang and he stood up. "Great well, thank you for your input, all of you. Excuse me." He took the call outside but not before they realized it was Elena on the other end.

Sam reached to pour himself another drink as Nathan walked outside. Jessica swallowed the last of her drink. "I need some fresh air." She proclaimed standing up. She didn't have any destination in mind she just walked, lost in her thoughts. All she could think of was how much this search had already cost them, what it might still cost them.

After a few minutes, she noticed a sign on a wooden door that said pool in Italian. She opened the door and let herself in. The pool wasn't very large but the area was secluded and well lit. There was even a small grotto area. She walked over to the side and sat down, she ran her fingers across the water to check the temperature. It was warm enough so she put her feet in.

Jessica stared down at her reflection hating the sight. Whenever she looked at herself she couldn't help but see hands all over her body, the hands of the men she had been with over the last ten years. She tried to fight it but the tears came and she cursed out loud. She hated to think that Elena might be put through the same pain she had felt when she heard about Sam.

Her necklace slipped out from under her dress and she saw the ring hanging from the chain. She clutched it in her hand and took a deep breath calming herself enough for the tears to stop. "You're getting your dress wet."

She jumped at the voice, she hadn't even heard him walk in. She turned around quickly to see Sam standing behind her with his hands in his pockets. She quickly wiped her face hoping he didn't witness her breakdown. "Yeah, well it's just a dress, easily replaced." She said softly.

He crouched down next to her. "You lied." He said plainly. "What are you talking about?" She said slightly irritated. He pointed to her necklace. She quickly grabbed it realizing she forgot to tuck in back into her dress. "You said you didn't want it anymore."

She closed her eyes trying to find the words she had been wanting to say these last ten years. "You know… you know I didn't mean it." She stumbled over the words. "You were right that night, I overreacted." It took him a few minutes to respond. "Wow, I never thought I would hear those words coming from your mouth" She looked at him unsure what he meant. "You admitting I was right." He joked. She laughed a little and shoved him. He stood up pulling her with him. "If I had known I would never have… I would have waited for you." She said not looking him in the eyes.

He gently turned his face to look at him. "You couldn't have known; you did nothing wrong. Imagining you and Nathan happy is the only thing that got me through the last ten years."

"We can't go back Jess, we can spend the rest of our lives wondering what could have been, or what we would have done different but it won't change anything. Can we just agree to move forward? Wherever that might lead us."

"Your right." She said agreeing with him.

"We are on an adventure!" He declared. "Other than the threat of death this is actually pretty fun. I saw you in that ballroom, you were in your element and don't try to deny it."

"Well…maybe I enjoyed it a little." She replied with a slight smile.

"I certainly enjoyed watching you, the way you swiped waiter's card made you look like a sexy little ninja." He said smirking at her. "I don't remember you having such fast reflexes, though. What other skills have you picked up since I've been gone?"

"Ah, well I could tell you but where would be the fun in that?" She replied coyly. She turned away shoes in hand and started to walk towards the exit. Sam reached out and grabbed her wrist and pulled her back against her chest. He dipped his head down so that his mouth was against her ear. "You know I dreamt about…every night. I would dream of holding you just like this, there were days when I would wake up, and I swore I could smell that perfume you always used to wear."

"Sam…" She whispered. He slid his hand around her waist pulling her tighter against him, he felt her body shiver in response. He spun her around and claimed her mouth with his. She didn't resist and demanded more. Sam backed her up against the door and slid his hand up her leg pulling her dress up. "Sam… we can't not out here. People might see us."

He grinned at her, "Let them watch."

Sam and Jessica were gone when Nathan came back in from the balcony. "Where did they go?" he asked Sully. "Jessica left for a walk if I had to guess I would say this is bringing up old memories. Sam went after her to make sure she was ok."

"Oh." Was all Nathan said. He knew it was wrong to lie to Elena but he also knew she would have tried to stop him. It was better she didn't know. He also felt a tad guilty for snapping at Jessica but there was nothing he could do about it now.

When Sam and Jessica got back to the room he and Sully were discussing travel plans. He noticed that Jessica's dress was wet from the knees down but didn't ask why. Jessica grabbed her bag and headed to the bathroom to shower.

The next day

It took them about 4 hours to fly from Italy to Scotland on Sully's plane. By midday, they were on the ground staring at the Cathedral from a distance. They could hear explosions coming from that area. "Wow, Rafe's really going all in isn't he?" Sam remarked. "Well they are all concentrated by the Cathedral, so that's good…because we are going to have that graveyard all to ourselves." Nathan said while he was looking through the binoculars. "I hope he brings down the whole building on his head," Jessica commented.

Sam laughed as he started off, 'well let's go pay our respects to Captain Avery eh?"

They jogged down to the graveyard, keeping a good pace, they stopped when they came upon a camp set up not too far from their destination there were crates and barrels spread out across it. "What the hell is all this?" Nathan wondered. "It's excavation equipment," Sam stated.

"Guys look; this barrel says shoreline." Jessica noticed. "What?" Sam said confused. "Here look." She motioned at it. "I thought they were just by the cathedral!" He responded.

Jessica walked over to a suspicious looking crate and took a look inside. Dynamite? She wondered what kind of idiot used dynamite at a site like this, then she remembered who they were dealing with.

"Look, they are here!" They heard voices from the other side of the camp. Then gunshots rang out peppering the ground around them. "Oh shit, get down!" Sam yelled. She dove for cover behind a crate she hoped didn't contain dynamite and pulled out her gun. She waited for a break in the fire and leaned out of her cover to fire off a few shots at the one who was reloading, she didn't kill him but she did hit him in the leg.

A bullet whizzed past her head and landed on the ground behind her. "Shit" she cursed and hid back behind the crate. She waited a few moments and then jumped up sliding across the crate. She ran for the cover of nearby ruins of some kind building, all that was left of it now was two walls. It made for a much better cover than the crate, though. She poked her head out enough to count the men and saw there were only four, that wasn't so bad she thought to herself. Nate shot one in the head bringing him down instantly, so now there were only three. The man closest to her seemed to have forgotten about her and was busy trying to sneak around behind Nathan and Sam, He must be new to the job, she assumed. Only an idiot turns his back to an enemy like that. She fired off one quick shot and hit him in the back, he went down quickly she must have hit a lung or his heart.

Once again a few bullets landed around her coming close to hitting their mark. She dodged back behind the cover, then ran for a nearby tree hoping to distract the remaining gunmen. A barrage of bullets followed her trail, it's a could thing she was fast she thought. Her plan, though, Sam and Nathan easily took out the last two. "Okay, were good," Nate stated.

"What the hell were you doing running out from cover like that" Sam asked in a tone that said he was not happy. "I was drawing them out from their cover, it worked didn't it?" She responded sarcastically. "Yeah well, next time warn me when you are planning on doing something that reckless."

"It seems like they were expecting us," Nathan said ignoring their bickering. "And like their searching away from the cathedral," Sam added. "Which means we should get to that graveyard pronto."

"Then lead the way, Nate," Jessica exclaimed. They ran further down the incline till they came to a Cliffside. "Come on Nate I'll boost you," Sam stated. "So I have to do all the heavy lifting?" Nate joked. "I resent that statement." She stood back, as Sam boosted Nathan up high enough that he could reach the edge. After he was up, it was her turn. She wasn't quite tall enough to reach the ledge even with the boost so Nathan had to pull her up. After was standing up top. Nate reached down to lift Sam as he jumped up.

They spotted a path that led down to the graveyard and followed it down. They spread out in the graveyard looking for Avery's tombstone. She wandered amongst the tombstones looking for Avery's grave. She wondered to herself if any of these men had been pirates and if they had sailed under Avery. Most of the headstones were barely legible although she could make out names and dates on a few. She had no luck finding Avery's though.

"Hey, over here," Nate called to them. "This looks right, the swords are a match and so is the year." Sam and Jessica walked over to Nate to see what he had found. He was brushing the surface of the headstone off and it revealed a name. "Look, Benjamin Bridgeman."

"That's Avery's alias." Sam laughed. "There is something odd about this skull, though," Nate said laying his hand on it. "It looks like it doesn't belong to the stone."

"Well yeah, what's odd about it, is it isn't Avery's sigil." Sam pointed out. "Oh yeah…I mean the skull should be facing…" The brothers exchanged a look both coming to the realization at the same time. "Sideways," They said in unison. Nate turned the skull to the side and immediately a set of stairs began to open up behind the tombstone. "Holy shit…" Jessica muttered. They all laughed in amazement.

"Are you guys ready for this?" Nathan asked. "Oh I've been ready for this for a long time" Sam replied. "This trip just got a lot more interesting that's for sure," Jessica said while peering down into the darkness.

Sam motioned to the stairs, "Ladies first." She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Such a gentleman."


	4. Chapter 4 The Cathedral

_A/N Hey guys, I just wanted to say thanks for reading my story. If you have a few minutes I would love for some feedback. How was the last chapter? Was there enough action? Did you enjoy "makeup scene between Sam and Jess? If I write an R rated version of that scene and post it separately would anyone want to read it? Also if anyone is interested I used Lara Croft from the new Rise of the tomb raider game that came out last year as a physical model for Jessica._

Playlist

 _Elle King/ Last damn night_

 _Skylar Grey/ Wreak havoc_

 _Sick Puppies/ You're going down. (I recommend listening to this one sped up)_

 _Panic at the disco/ Don't threaten me with a good time_

Chapter 4

Jessica jumped down into passage way landing on her feet in a crouch with her hand out to steady herself. Sam and Nathan came down behind her. "Well here we go down into the darkness." She commented. "After you," she motioned Nathan forward. He took the lead turning his light on and going down the next set of stairs. "Well, let's see what we got…"

While Jessica's line of work usually didn't involve her going underground into forgotten passageways she really didn't mind it. Sure there was always the risk of whole structure caving in on her but it hadn't happened yet. It's true she didn't have the same knowledge of pirate history as Sam or Nathan but she had always enjoyed a good adventure. It was why she let Nathan drag her along on so many, well until the time she got shot while he was supposed to be covering her. Now she preferred to do most of her work at night, stealing antiques from people with too much money, for other people with too much money.

She followed Nathan around a corner and they entered a large cavern with three statues. "Whoa, the gangs all here." He said in awe walking up to the middle statue. "Jesus…Dismas on the left…Gestas on the right…

Sam took a closer look as well, "Penitent thief and jerk thief."

"Is there such a thing as a penitent thief?" Jessica commented. "I don't know you tell me," Sam responded with a smirk. "Hey, I am not a thief…not really. If anything I am Robin Hood, stealing from the rich" She countered.

"…and giving to the rich," Nathan said sarcastically. She waved a hand in his direction, "semantics." She stated getting a laugh out of both brothers.

This was obviously another one of Avery's puzzle's so they looked around the room and ended up behind the wall the statues were against. "It looks like some kind of lamp," Nathan remarked. The middle statue had a lamp on it. She could see the wheels turning in his head. "Hey, Smokey…need your lighter over here." Sam moved towards him lighter in hand. "You know, that hurts my feelings." He quipped. "Not as much as it hurts your lungs." Nathan declared. Jessica attempted to stifle a laugh, unsuccessfully. "Oh you too huh?" Sam questioned. "I was just coughing." She said trying to look innocent.

Nathan lit the lamp and a fire quickly spread along the wall illuminating the room and shooting beams of light behind them on a set of doors. "Well, isn't that something?"

"That's one hell of a magic trick," Jessica said in awe of the display.

"There has to be some way to align the beams into the correct pattern." Sam mused. Jessica wandered around the room taking everything in as Nathan adjusted the beams trying to lock in the right pattern.

She wondered how old this place was and how long it took to build. Hell, she wondered how it was still structurally sound after all this time. "Okay, let's give this a shot." She heard Nate say. She turned back to them, "hey it looks like a constellation." She noticed.

"Yeah, that's Libra, the scales of justice," Nathan explained. "That's an interesting choice for a bunch of pirates." Sam declared. Nate turned a wheel on the door and it opened. "Open sesame." Sam joked. "Wrong treasure," Nate replied.

"Shush," Sam said not caring.

To their surprise, it didn't open to another room or passageway but an intricate glass window looking out across the mountain. "Well nice view, no treasure, though," Sam commented sounding disappointed. "No but look, you see those crosses?" Nathan motioned. They looked out and saw three crosses spread out across the side and what looked like a cave in between them. "I think Avery's trying to tell us where to go next."

"Uh, there's one problem, though…" Nathan said as Sam started back for the entrance. "Going back that way means we have to go back towards the cathedral."

"And back towards Rafe." Sam realized. "Shit"

"Well, let's not keep him waiting," Jessica said with a heavy sigh.

They exited the passage and climbed back up into the graveyard. They heard men shouting. "Spread out! You know the drill." One ordered.

"Oh fuck. Not these dicks again." Jessica complained as she pulled out her gun. "Look, they opened the gate up there." Sam noticed. "Well good, cause that's the way we gotta go," Nathan replied. "Follow my lead."

They could hear the mercenaries talking. "Anyone hear from the scouting party uphill?"

"No, you think we have company?"

Jessica snuck closer to the men careful to stay hidden. She noticed to her annoyance that Sam stayed relatively close to her apparently not trusting her out of his sight. She stopped behind a crate and spotted another box of dynamite on it. "Oooh." She exclaimed her eyes lighting up, a million possibilities running through her head. She turned her head to Sam, "Give me your lighter." She ordered. "What? Now?" He asked confused. She waved a stick of dynamite at him in explanation. He smirked at her and the tossed the lighter over. "Try not to blow yourself up, killer."

Nathan saw the exchange and realized what she was planning. "Oh, no" he objected. "Oh, yes." She replied grinning. "Jess, no." "Nate, yes" She insisted. "Can we at least try to do this covertly?"

"But this would be so much quicker." She said. "Yeah, and it could also alert more shorelines guys to us being here." He argued.

She huffed fine "but if they spot us, all bets are off." Then she tucked a few sticks in her belt and stuck the lighter in her pocket. The three of them spread out some looking for opportunities to start picking off the guards.

Sam watched as Jessica moved off silently darting from one cover to another. This was the Jessica he remembered, mischievous and looking for trouble. She liked to complain that they were crazy, but she easily matched their crazy and in sometimes outdid it. Now was a perfect example of that. He couldn't help but laugh at the sight she made sneaking around the old ruins with sticks of dynamite tucked under her belt. She reminded him of a cartoon character.

Nathan jumped up to hang off one of the ledges, he waited patiently until one of the men got close enough to him, then swiftly reached up, punched the guy in the face and yanked him over the edge. Jessica watched how easy he made it look, show off, she thought.

She crept forward into a patch tall grass off to the right side of the ruins and watched with piercing eyes as one of the men approached her position. Like a trained predator she sprung forward. She placed her hand over the man's mouth and pulled him backward into the grass before he realized what was happening, and snapped his neck. Adrenaline rushed through her body, she forgot how much she enjoyed this. It wasn't that she liked killing people, she just liked the adrenaline rush that came with the threat of being caught. And really, who was going to miss a bunch of ruthless mercenaries?

Jessica took in their surroundings and counted all of the men in the area. There were so many of them, she had no idea how Nate planned on taking them all out without be noticed. But she would play along for now. She climbed up a wall and around the ledge. She looked to her right and saw a man near the ledge. He was facing outwards and she didn't think she could get to the ledge in front of him to pull him over like Nate had. Then she had an idea.

She climbed further up the wall until she was crouch at the top looking down. She judged it was a little over a story above the guy. She pulled out her combat knife she had strapped to her thigh and leaped down. She came down hard on the man's back taking him to the ground before he could call out she thrust her knife into his neck. The blade was serrated on both sides, it did not leave a clean wound, and was entirely unforgiving. His blood spurted out onto her hands and she couldn't help but be grossed out by it. This part she did not enjoy, she hated messy kills. Sometimes they were the best way to take down an opponent, though.

She wiped her hands on her pants thankful they were black and looked around. Sam had taken out another two but she couldn't see Nathan. She climbed up to another vantage spot to see if she could spot him. She found him quickly enough he was hidden behind a pillar with a man advancing on him. She watched with interest as he threw the man over the ledge. She cringed when she saw the man go face first into the stone. That had to hurt, she thought to herself.

Unfortunately for Nate, he had failed to notice the man below him. The other man heard the impact and discovered the body within seconds. He called out an alarm to alert to other shoreline guys to their presence. A few men spotted Nate after that and opened up fire. Well, so much for doing this quietly.

Nate popped off a couple rounds taking out the one closest to him. He disappeared from their sight quickly enough. It didn't matter though they already knew they had company and were converging on the spot Nathan had been. Sam opened fire on the men from his hiding spot dispatching two of them.

Jessica counted five left in that area, they assembled near the dead body of the man Nate had taken down. Two were standing on the landing above him and the other three were searching the area below. She followed Nate's movement and when she judged he was a safe distance away she pulled out a stick of dynamite.

Nathan moved as quickly as he could away from the men, avoiding being seen. He joined Sam on the other side of the ruins. They had a clear view of the man searching for him. "Where is Jessica?" He whispered. Sam pointed up. She was above them and tad to the right crouched on top of a pillar. Nathan noticed the thoughtful look on her face and the fact that she was holding what looked like dynamite. "Oh, no" he groaned. They watched as she shrugged her shoulders as if to say why not,

and then lit it. She waited longer than he would have like before hurling it at the group of men. It exploded in the air just before hitting the ground. The two men on the landing went flying and debris landed on one of the men on the ground all three were down for the count. The last two were knocked to their feet but otherwise unharmed.

"Is she insane?" Nathan asked rhetorically because there was obviously only one answer. Sam laughed as Jessica turned to give them a thumbs up. It helps her to make her look any saner when they noticed the blood on her. "Is it weird that that kind of turns me on? Sam questioned. "What?" Nathan said unsure if he was hearing his brother correctly.

Regrettably, Jessica's actions had alerted the remaining men to her presence. Soon enough they opened fire on her. Her spot atop the pillar left her completely exposed. She cursed as she stood up and leaped nimbly to the wall across from her and dropped down the side and climbed quickly to the ground.

She ran and took cover behind a different wall, Sam and Nathan appeared at her side a few moments later. "Why do you look like you are having fun?" Sam probed.

Jessica merely laughed and held out the last two sticks of dynamite to him. "If it gets the job done." She replied. He took them while chuckling, she pressed the lighter into his other hand. Jessica pulled out her pistol and crouched down moving along the wall, attempting to flank the men moving in on them.

Nathan was leaning around the corner firing off a few shots at the approaching men. "You guys are perfect for each other; you know it?" Nate said shaking his head in disbelief. "Here you go, little brother," Sam said in reply, as he passed one to Nate. "You know you want to." He argued. "Well, when in Rome," Nate said in acceptance.

About 15 minutes later after they had blown up near half of the ruins all of the mercenaries were dead. "Okay, I think we're clear" Nate declared. "Well, that could have gone better," Sam stated. Both brothers looked at her. "Hey, don't blame me." She said holding her hands up. "Nathan is the one that tipped them off."

"Right, so it's my fault," Nate replied. "Now you're getting it" she grinned at him.

Sam chuckled. "Let's just get that gate open."

They ran over to the gate, Sam and Nathan forced it about half way up then Jessica slipped under it. Sam held it while Nate went through and then quickly stepped out from under it onto the other side. "Damn, that was heavy. Sam commented. "I know, right." Nate seconded, then he asked Sam. "How are you holding up?"

"Fine, I mean I was a little disappointed not to find the treasure back there but hey, it's never that easy is it?" "Plus there was that cool constellation thing."

"That was pretty cool." Jessica chimed in.

They set a good pace heading over the mountain towards the crosses by the cathedral. They had to do a bit of climbing but none of them minded. Jessica actually enjoyed it. It wasn't often her work took her outside to places like this. She had always liked the outdoors and there was something much more thrilling about hanging from a cliff than the edge of a building.

"Kid, what's your status?" Sully called over the com to Nathan. "Hey Sully, we're on the trail but the treasure is closer to the cathedral than we originally thought."

"Oh boy, so what do you need me to do?" Sully asked with a hint of concern in his voice. "Just keep those engines warm. We'll be back before too long." Was Nathans response. "You got it."

They kept pushing forward until they came to a gap where they would have to use a grapple rope to swing to the next ledge. Nathan went first, always leading the way. "Hey, do you need me to throw your rope for you?" Sam questioned looking at her. In the past, she had always had trouble with throwing them right.

"No, I've got it." She replied swinging her hook and catching it on the extended piece of wood Nathan had used. She gracefully leaped off the ledge and swung over to the other side. After Sam made his way over they started up again. "When did you learn how to do that?" He asked once again thinking about how much time had passed, and how much he had missed.

"Eh, it's one of those things you have to know when traveling with this guy." She said nodding to Nathan. "I can do a pretty cool backflip dismount too." She added nonchalantly like it was no big deal. "Oh, really. That's impressive." Sam responded sounding pretty impressed.

Nathan made a sound in the back of his throat. "You did that once, and you nearly broke your neck!" He accused. "Hey, I did it, though! That still counts!" She defended. Sam laughed at their banter.

They passed two more patrols on their way and had to do a lot more climbing, swinging and even sliding. Jessica swore she could feel rocks in her shoes. They had finally made it, though. They had to slide through a small crevice to reach the cavern but then they came upon a stone door.

"Hey, check this out," Nathan spoke. There was an ominous looking hole next to the door which was locked. Nathan shined his light into and then stuck his arm in it. "There's a handle in here or something."

"Well…give it a pull," Sam replied.

"What? It could be a trap." Nathan expressed. "Well, you're already in there, what's the…what's the worst that can happen?"

"Uh, I could lose my hand?" Nathan said sarcastically. "So, we'll get you a nice hook." Sam declared. "Oh, now that would be a good look for you, Nathan." Jessica joked.

Nathan looked at them clearly not impressed by their jokes. "Just give it a pull," Sam said seriously.

"Alright, here we go." Nathan pulled the lever. The door rolled back revealing another cavern.

Sam whistled, That's some pretty interesting décor." The cavern had bodies hanging from the ceiling in gibs. "Uh, I don't know if that's the word I would use," Jessica said a little spooked.

Nathan read a plaque hanging from one. "For those who prove worthy paradise awaits…those who prove false, behold your grim fate."

"Yeah, well I guess Avery with a better pirate than a poet." Sam joked. "This this isn't Avery's," Nathan said confused.

"What do you mean?" Jessica asked

"Look. It's the Rhode Island pirate. Thomas Tew."

Yeah, but it can't be him, I mean this is clearly his sigil but Tew died attacking the same treasure Fleet as Avery." Sam responded.

"Yeah, well at least that's what the stories tell us."

"If this really is Tew than that means he's involved in all of this...how?" Sam wondered aloud.

A large explosion rocked the mountain. "Shit, Rafe is going to bring down the whole mountain if he keeps this up. Who the hell does excavation with dynamite?" Jessica cursed. "Yeah, you think he would know better," Nathan replied.

They headed deeper into the cavern, having to cross a questionable bridge that almost gave out on them. They came to another cavern and immediately after entering Nathan triggered trap that slammed the door closed on them. "Just great," Jessica complained.

"Well, we're not getting back out that way," Sam remarked. "Hey, at least we didn't fall into a pit or something." Nathan chimed in, trying to stay positive.

There was an elaborate wheel like puzzle at the back of the wall hooked up to a kind of puller system. Jessica had had enough of Avery's test's for the day and took a seat on flat rock. She shook the rest of the rocks and gravel out of her clothes opened her pack. She pulled out a protein bar and watched with interest as the brothers worked together to solve the puzzle and get the next door open.

When they thought it was correct they approached the door. This one was similar to the last in that it also had a hole next to it. Only this time, if they were wrong spikes would come out when the lever was pulled, resulting in whoever pulled the lever being impaled. Yeah, there was no way she was volunteering for this job.

Eventually, Nathan agreed to be the one to try it, luckily the door opened and no spikes came out.

They jogged along through the next few corridors having to climb and jump from place to place. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" Sam asked her. "Well, yeah I mean a little." She responded. "And yet you were completely against it in the beginning."

"It's true I enjoy doing work like this but as much as I love Nate, he doesn't have the best of luck with these things. Actually come to think of it, neither do you." She explained. "This search, in particular, has already had so many things go wrong…I just can't see it ending well."

Sam nodded in understanding. "Well, we will find the treasure, and when we do it will all have been worth it."

"No amount of treasure in the world could make up for all we have been through in the last ten years." She proclaimed running ahead to catch up with Nathan.

A little while later they could hear voices coming from the other side of a wall they were pressed against. It was Rafe and Nadine, and Rafe was not happy. Apparently, the dynamite excavation had not been his idea and he was pissed they might have been blowing away clues.

They kept going pushing closer to the cathedral.

At this point, they were deep under the cathedral as they entered a huge cavern. In the center was a dais with a scale on it. On one side of the scale was a gold cross statuette and on the other was a few gold coins. Nathan reached for the cross.

"Whoa, whoa don't touch it!" Sam stopped him. "Why?"

"Look at it, it's the only valuable thing we have seen in this cave," Sam explained.

"It must be another test." Jessica mused. "Yeah, greed…or lack thereof." Sam added.

She stepped forward and shined her light on the scales. "Well, if it's not the cross…it's got to be the coins."

"Are we sure about this?" Sam questioned. "Well, pretty sure," Nate replied.

Another explosion rocked the area above them. It sounded closer this time. "Guys we are running out of time." She said worriedly.

"Pretty sure will have to do," Sam said reaching out. He took a single coin and the torches in the room lit up. A light shone overhead and the shape of Madagascar could be seen on the floor. Kings Bay was at the center of the floor.

"So what? Now we have to go to Madagascar?" Jessica said cynically.

Sam laughed, "Son of a bitch…he is screwing with us."

Nathan pondered for a minute, "he was recruiting."

"Recruiting for what?" Sam said angrily.

An explosion burst through the wall throwing them to the floor. Fuck, Jessica thought. They found us. Jessica stood up with Sam's help, coughing from all of the dust in the air. Nadine and two of her men walked into the room through the large hole on the wall they had created.

"Guns on the floor, slowly," Nadine ordered them. She called Rafe and told him to come back to the cathedral. Then Nadine noticed the map on the floor. "Kings Bay? Nice."

"Yeah, but where in Kings Bay? You will need that cross over there to figure it out." Sam claimed, trying to lure her into the trap. "But we are the only ones who can tell you how to use it."

Nathan caught on to the plan and added, "If you leave it to Rafe you are going to be waiting a long time."

"Sorry but I'm not here to negotiate," Nadine said, shaking her head. "Bring me the crucifix" she ordered one of her men.

Nate attempted to distract by going on about the definition of a crucifix while the three of them slowly made their way back towards the edge of the room. Nadine noticed the movement and shouted for her man to stop but it was too late.

He set off the trap and the floor quickly began to cave in. The first man fell I but Nadine and the second man made it. Then ordered him to shoot at them.

They made it cover but then more men appeared. The next few minutes that went by happened so fast she wasn't even sure what was going on. Between the bullets flying everywhere, the room continuing to fall into the cavern below and Nathan nearly falling to his death, Jessica was sure they weren't going to make it.

Somehow they made it, though. She couldn't really tell you how much time had passed before they were sitting in Sully's plane freezing cold and soaked to the bone.

Jessica was shivering, luckily they had all brought a change of clothes. The guys quickly changed, and then Nathan went up front to sit with Sully. Jessica pulled off her jacket and boots, then stripped off her wet clothes. She didn't bother telling Sam to turn around as she was wearing a sports bras and a pair of tight shorts meant for working out in, under her wet clothes. She pulled a thick knit sweater over her head and stepped into a pair of blue jeans.

"Do you really think the treasure will be in Kings Bay?" She asked as she sat down next to Sam. He noticed she was still shivering and pulled out a wool blanket Sully has stashed under the seat to wrap around her shoulders. "Thanks."

"I don't know Jess. I hope so otherwise all of this will have been for nothing." He finally answered. "And Alcazar will kill you." She added staring off into space. Sam coughed, "Yeah, right." He said acting uncomfortable.


	5. Chapter 5, Kings Bay

_A/N: So I'm trying my best to stick to the original story line and keep most of the dialogue the same. Unfortunately, I can't go into detail on every cut scene. Its kills me because I just love Sam and Nathan's banter. It just takes up way too much time. Time I want to spend on developing Jessica as a character. Nathan will of course remain the hero of the story, even though most of it is being told from Jessica's perspective. If there are any scenes you just can't live without, comment or shoot me a PM._

Playlist

 _Kaleo/ No good_

 _Dorothy/ Wicked ones_

 _Juliet Simms/ Trouble finds you_

 _Northern Lights/ Gypsy woman_

Chapter 5

The sun was beating down on them, Jessica was already missing the cool temperatures of Scotland. She wiped her brow and observed her surroundings. They were stopped in the middle of nowhere searching for whatever it was Avery wanted them to find. Not that any of them had the slightest idea what it was. All they knew was it was somewhere near the Volcano in Kings Bay, Madagascar. She had her finger crossed this was the final stop and that the treasure was within their reach. It was starting to feel like they were on a wild goose chase.

She was sitting in the back of the topless jeep they had rented waiting for Victor to point them in the right way with is GPS. It seemed like she wasn't the only one getting restless either, Sam had taken to pacing in front of the Jeep while Nate was resting his head on the steering wheel. "Ugh," She groaned. "This is ridiculous; can't we just head straight towards the giant volcano?" She said pointed at the volcano that was clearly visible. "Yeah we could do that... if you want to risk running into some obstacle having to turn back," Sam replied.

Jessica groaned again. She was so glad she had decided on shorts this morning, even though normally they weren't the best choice when climbing was involved. She was willing to accept the scrapes and scratches that would inevitably come, for the small relief from the heat. She was also wearing a light green racerback tank top that fit loosely over her sports bra. Even that was too much clothing in her opinion.

Nathan lifted his head up and looked at Sully, "Any luck with the GPS?"

Sully shifted on his feet. "I lost the signal."

Nathan got out the jeep. "Hey, you know what never loses it signal? Paper!" He exclaimed sarcastically. "All right, this route here should take us right to the volcano." He pointed at the map.

"Let's get this show on the road," Sam said before jumping into the back of the jeep next to Jessica. The group took off down the road, the wind blowing in their faces was a welcome relief from the heat.

"So what do you think we are looking for?' She asked.

"Watch towers, or lookout posts." Nathan responded. "Watch towers?" Sully said confused.

Sam explained, "Avery was the most wanted man in the world, so if he was hiding something out here, it makes sense he would have had lookouts."

"So one of those towers must be on the volcano." Jessica guessed.

"With Avery's treasure," Sully said catching on.

"Fingers crossed." Sam said hopefully.

A little way down the road they found some ruins and Nathan stopped the vehicle to take a look at them. While he looked around the others stayed in their seats. "So Jess, I hear you have been doing a lot of travel the last few years." Sam stated.

"Yeah, allover really. I get restless when I'm in one place too long. I own a small place near Nate and Elena but I spend most of the year abroad, mostly for work." She answered.

"Right, what is it exactly that you do?"

"Well, I work mostly on a referral basis. I get calls from collectors asking for specific items. I do a little digging once I find what they're looking for, I give them a number and a time frame."

"Have you ever had to steal from a museum?" He asked curiously.

"Oh, no. I only take from private collections. Every now and then I take jobs where a client specifically wants me to search a certain site for whatever relics I can find, similar to what we are doing now." She explained.

"So…that Marco guy. He was a client?" Sam asked nonchalantly.

Jessica sighed, "Yes Sam, he was a client. He has a thing for iron age weapons. He has asked me to track down a few in the past." She clarified. "I haven't seen him in almost two years though."

"Weapons huh, that's a little unusual." He remarked. "Well, considering he is an arms dealer, it's not that strange." She added, annoyed with the turn the conversation had taken. For a man who didn't care about what she had done the last ten years he sure was asking a lot of questions.

"This arms dealer friend of yours, he wouldn't happen to be Marco Ruiz would he?" Sully chimed in.

She sighed, Jesus Christ she did not need this right now. "Yes Sully, he is Marco Ruiz, and to answer your next question, yes he is THAT Marco Ruiz."

"Well, I'll be damned," Sully said, stunned. "Damn kid, I heard you had been working with some dangerous people, but Ruiz?"

"What's so special about this Ruiz guy?" Sam asked.

"Ruiz?" Nathan asked as her returned to the jeep. "Well, he is only one of the wealthiest arms dealers in the eastern hemisphere."

Sam suddenly looked at her like she had grown another head. "Can we just drop it, OK?" She snapped. She didn't need them judging her for the kind of people she worked for.

About half an hour and some serious off-roading, they made it to the first tower. Nathan jumped out to investigate and Jessica volunteered to go with him. She was getting antsy being stuck in the vehicle for so long and wanted to stretch her legs. Inside the tower they found another pirate sigil. This one belonged to Christopher Condant, another infamous pirate.

Jessica stood by as Nathan climbed to the top of the tower. "So, why do you think all of these pirates were working with Avery?" She asked. "I don't know… Maybe for protection. There is greater strength in numbers and by this time their enemies would have been closing in." Nathan speculated. "Yeah, that makes sense. It's kind of weird to think of pirates working together." She replied. "Well, you know what they say about honor among thieves." Nate said jumping down.

They returned to the jeep and ended up having to use the wench to get them up a muddy incline much to Nathans excitement. Sully was not as excited as he had been against paying extra for the wench in the first place, and had argued they wouldn't need it.

Jessica was getting pretty tired of all the mud and water they had to drive through, it didn't help that Nathan hit every corner going full speed. "Jesus Christ Nathan! Where did you learn how to drive?" She questioned as he swung around a corner and went sliding almost driving them into a rock wall.

"You will have to take that up with Sam." Nathan joked. Jessica turned to Sam to send him a peeved glare. She started to say something sarcastic but as they rounded the next turn the saw another tower in the distance, a large explosion went off next to it.

"What the hell was that?" she said while scowling.

"Here," Nathan took out a pair of binoculars and took a look. "What do we got?" Sam asked. "Military types poking around looks like Nadine's guys."

Sam exhaled loudly, "Shit…"

"How are they always one step ahead of us?" Jessica asked. Rafe didn't have the same information they did, so it made no sense. Was it just dumb luck leading him?

"I don't know, but the only way to the volcano is right through them," Nathan responded.

"Of course it," Jessica sighed. When were things ever easy for them?

"Shit, well lead on Nathan," Sam said.

Nathan drove them down to the tower and parked behind some large rocks. They got out and were able to quickly dispatch the few sentries. Without raising any alarms.

Hmm, maybe she was wrong maybe this would go smoother than she thought. She had spoken too soon she realized, though. As they were leaving they had to cross another rickety bridge. They made it about half way over when the thing collapsed. Jessica held on for dear life, she may not have been afraid of heights, but when falling from any kind of height changed things.

They landed safely with all four wheels on the ground, though, and Nathan got to use his winch again on the remaining part of the bridge to make a slope they could drive up.

As they were getting closer to the volcano they saw a few more Shoreline trucks in the distance. They kept pushing forward not letting it deter them. "So Sam, how did you pass the time in prison?" Sully asked trying to pass the time with conversation.

"Ah, you know, reading mostly," Sam answered. "One of the guards would check out books from the library for me."

"So what'd you read?" Sully inquired. "History mostly, stuff about Avery and other pirates," Sam explained.

Jessica smiled a little, that was always one of the things she loved about Sam. He didn't look like it, or even act like it most of the time, he was soaked up knowledge and history facts like a sponge. She would bet money on him being able to hold his own in a room full of actual scholars and historians. Yeah, he was pretty rough around the edges but he was incredibly smart.

"But you know, besides books…pushups, smoking and trying to stay out of fights between rival gangs." Sam added.

Jessica glanced over at Sam covertly. She had definitely noticed the change in his physique. Not many forty-year-old men had abs like that, hell she hadn't seen many younger men that looked like that.

Sam caught her looking at smirked at her, knowing exactly what she was thinking. Shit! She cursed inwardly, she cleared her throat and looked away. There is no way he wouldn't bring that up at some point and find a way to use it against her.

They made another stop not too long after that. This time it was to take a look at a huge obelisk type structure. Jessica leaned forward against the half wall that served as a railing of a sort. She looked out over the landscape in awe. "Wow, this is amazing," She said to Sam, who was leaning one hip against the wall next to her with his arms crossed. "You can see all the way out to the city."

"Yeah, it's really something." He replied looking wistful. "I just keep waiting to wake up in solitary or something, and that this is all a dream…"

Jessica looked at him with sad eyes. She laid a hand on his forearm and said, "Sam…if we had any idea you were still alive…"

"Jess, stop. There was no way you could have known. I don't blame either of you…Let's just find this treasure ok?" Sam said cutting her off. "Alright." She agreed. They headed back to the jeep. Nathan and Sully were already back in it waiting on them. Jessica spent the next few minutes lost in her own thoughts while the guys were talking about Sully's time in Kings Bay.

Jess sighed inwardly when they came upon yet another obstacle. This time in the form of a drawbridge. The only upside was it didn't look like Shoreline had made it this far yet. "Seriously? A drawbridge, how the hell are we supposed to get that thing down?" She complained as she jumped out of the jeep. They walked over to the run down tower on their side of the bridge. Jessica looked around and noticed another sigil.

"Hey, I actually know this one!" She said excitedly. "It's Anne Bonny!"

Sam and Nathan looked at each other in slight shock. She had never shown much interest in pirate history so it was unusual that she would recognize this symbol.

"What? I do listen to you guys talk sometimes, and c'mon female pirate?" She said in defense.

"Yeah, well…wasn't she supposed to have died in jail?" Nathan asked looking back at Sam. "Well, that's what the stories tell us…Avery must have invited her too." Sam said. Nathan crouched down to sketch the new sigil into his notebook.

Jessica looked up at the tower they were in, it looked like she would be able to climb to the top. "Hey, I'm going to take a look up top. Maybe I can spot a way over."

"Good idea, I'm going to head down here and check out the bridge," Sam responded.

Once she got about halfway up she heard Sam call out, "Hey, the stairs are busted, there is no way up to the drawbridge crank."

"Alright give me a sec, I might be able to spot something from up top." She called down.

"Just be careful," Nathan shouted at her. "Yes, father!" She said mockingly.

Once she got to the top she noticed a huge tower just past the drawbridge. "Whoa," She said in amazement. "Guys, there is a massive tower just over that way. It's the biggest one yet." She yelled down at them.

Next to her was a crate attached to a pulley system that went all the way over to the other side of the bridge. "Hey Sam, I think I found something you can use to climb up to the crank. She put all of her body weight behind the crate and shoved it as hard as she could. Unfortunately, the movement of the crate caused the rickety floor to crumble beneath her feet. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" She yelled out as she held onto the crate for dear life as it went sailing down the rope.

The strap holding the crate in place snapped from the added weight right after clearing the gap and it crashed to the ground taking her with it. She rolled a few times before coming to a stop. Sam rushed over to her side. "Jess! Are you ok?" He said worriedly.

"Ugh," She groaned, "Am I dead? Because I feel like I'm dead." She replied finally opening her eyes. Sam was crouched over her, there was a hint of laughter in his eyes.

Sam chuckled, "Do I look like an angel to you?" he joked.

She sat up and smiled at him, "No more like a knight in slightly tarnished armor."

"That's the first time I've ever heard that line before."

He grabbed her hand to pull her to her feet. She felt a stinging pain and looked down at her arm, there was a small gash that was bleeding a little right above her elbow. Sam noticed it too and said, "don't worry princess, this knight will get you all fixed up once we get this bridge down."

"How gallant of you." She joked. She stood by as Sam used the crate to climb up to the crank. As soon as he began to let the bridge down two shoreline trucks came speeding around the corner. "Shit, not these guys again," Sam exclaimed. He quickly let the drawbridge close back up and jumped down to join Jessica behind cover.

Jessica was angrily pulling out her gun and muttering under her breath. "A kiss for luck?" Sam asked in a teasing tone. Jessica leaned in as if to comply then side stepped him and patted his shoulder instead. "Make your own luck."

Sam crouched down and followed her to hide behind a crate. Luckily it seemed the men hadn't seen the two of them. So all of their focus was on Nathan and Victor. This gave him and Jessica the element of surprise. Sam noticed three of the men taking cover near one of the outlying structures.

What the men obviously didn't notice was they were taking cover next to a barrel full of explosive chemicals. "Well would you look at that, maybe I can make my own luck…" He said before firing off a round at the barrel. It exploded instantly, taking out the three men with it.

"Great now we only have like…oh, a dozen more to go." Jessica expressed.

About twenty minutes later they had taken out the last shoreline soldier. "I think that's the last of them," Nathan shouted from below. "Go ahead and let down the bridge Sam."

"I think you've got this covered," Jessica said dryly. She jumped down from the ledge and went climbing back up the other side to reach the jeep. When she attempted to pull herself up she caught sight of a shoreline man they had missed. In a second he had fired off a few bullets at her. In an attempt to avoid being hit she lost her grip and fell back down into the gap under the under the bridge. "Shit, Jess. Are you ok?" Nathan called out after taking the shooter down.

Jessica sat up and grimaced as she realized her clothes and most of her bottom half were covered in mud. "I'm just peachy…" She declared. Nathan helped her back up as Sam lowered the bridge the rest of the way. As they all got settled back into the jeep she grabbed a small sweat rag she had stashed in her bag and endeavored to clean herself up a bit.

Sam smirked at her, "you know, that's a god look for you I think."

"Oh, yeah. The mud and blood really bring out my eyes." She said sarcastically.

"Here give me your arm." He asked although he didn't wait for her to comply and pulled it to him. He made quick work of cleaning the cut on her arm with an alcohol wipe and wrapping it up. She looked at his handiwork, it wasn't neat but it was effective. She tried not to think about the way his touch made her feel "Thanks," She said softly. "Hey, what are knights for?" He joked.

Once again they got stuck at a hill. All of this mud was really slowing down their progress. They waited patiently while Nathan wrapped the wench around another tree. The angle was weird, though, and since he couldn't climb up the hill, he had to go the long way around and the wench line was wrapped around a large boulder in order to get to the tree.

Jessica held on tight as Nathan slowly pulled them up the hill, they made it up about half way before the boulder started to slip from its position. "Nate…" Sully warned. But it was too late, the boulder gave way and caused them to slide to the right off the mountain side. Jessica screamed but still kept her grip. They were hanging precariously from the tree, fortunately, the cable was holding for the time being.

Other rocks and debris were falling from overhead causing her to panic even more. In the chaos, Sam had managed to get an arm around her body and was holding her against the roll bar in front of him. "Fucking shit get us out of here Nathan!" She yelled fearfully.

He hit the accelerator and slowly began to crawl up the side of the cliff. But a large rock came falling down hitting the windshield and knocking him out of the vehicle. Jessica screamed again, "Nate!"

Sam reacted quickly though letting go of the roll bar with one hand he grabbed Nathans hand before he plummeted to his death. "I gotcha," Sam said to his brother.

Slowly Nathan was able to work his way back up to the driver's seat. They started their journey back up to safety and Jessica kept her eyes tightly shut. She felt Sam place his other arm back around her, but it did little to assure her. She wasn't positive but she was pretty sure she heard Sam saying a prayer at one point.

"Ah…well, that was fun right?" Nathan said once they were back on level ground. "I am going to kill you, Nathan," Jessica said very slowly, over-enunciating every word. "You're being dramatic, I had the whole thing under control." He brushed her off.

Jessica over and put her head in her hands. It wasn't lost on her that Sam hadn't broken contact with her, his left hand was on her lower back. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this…I could be on a beach somewhere…drinking Mai Tai's."

"I tell you what, I will buy you all the Mai Tai's you can drink after this is over," Sam said.

When they made it to the tower, the three men jumped out of the jeep. Sam looked at her questioningly. "No thanks, I think I'm just going to…sit here for a bit." She replied while staring off into space.

Sam smirked, "all right, well try not to miss me too much."

"Ha ha, now go find that treasure so we can get the hell off this mountain," Was her response

Sully tossed a walkie at her, "Keep this next to you, just in case we need your help."

"Roger that captain," She said and gave him a mock salute.

She laid out in the back seat after they left, it was funny how brushes with death left you questioning everything about your life. Really she couldn't stop thinking about Sam. What was going on between them? She didn't know what he wanted. Hell, she didn't even know what she wanted.

That night in Italy had been…well, it had been "amazing," she said aloud. But there were still so many unresolved issues between them. Not to mention they had both changed so much. Sure they were still the same people, and it was clear they still had chemistry but did they even want the same thing. She imagined he would want to settle down now that he was back, be close to Nathan. She didn't want that, she loved traveling and meeting new people while exploring other cultures.

Jessica was so lost in her own thoughts she didn't hear the trucks approaching until it was too late. Christ. This was what thinking got her into. She never had this problem before Sam got back. No, she was all business, eyes on the prize. That man had her mind all in a jumble.

She sat up slowly with her hands in the air, making sure they knew she wasn't a threat. There was no way she could take them all on, not on her own. There must have been almost two dozen well-armed men surrounding her. This was one of those times she wouldn't mind a man underestimating her.

One of the men motioned for her to get out of the vehicle. She did so and he grabbed her by the arm roughly. He quickly disarmed her and tied her wrists together, then he forced her to her knees. The man ordered his men into the tower to search for the others. Meanwhile, he stayed behind with her.

Wow, she thought. Her luck must be turning around. Either he was confident in his abilities or he was completely incompetent. He was now alone with her, for all she knew the guys could have been scouting up ahead and about to return any minute.

She hoped the guys were faring alright. She could hear gunfire coming from inside the tower, she took that as a good sign, however, they wouldn't still be shooting if her guys were dead. Jessica had to get into the tower to help them, so she quickly formulated a plan of action.

The man grabbed her elbow and lifted her up. He was walking her to the back of one of the trucks, presumably to throw her in it.

"Do you have any water? I'm starting to feel a little light headed from the heat." She asked in her whiniest voice. "No, now keep quiet!" He ordered. She stood up, "Oh come on! Help a lady out." She protested.

"I said shut up!" He backhanded her. Her head snapped back from the blow, she gritted her teeth so as not to cry out in pain. Damn, could this guy hit hard. He was easily a foot taller than her and built like a brick house. He forced her to step into the back of the truck. It was actually nice to be out of the sun, even if it was as a hostage.

He pushed her down to sit on one of the benches in the back. She realized he was going to tie her to it. She could not let that happen, her plan wouldn't work if she couldn't move. She needed to hurry things along too, she couldn't hear gunshots anymore and she was worried what that might mean.

"I know children that hit harder than you. No wonder you stayed behind, you wouldn't have lasted a second against the Drake's." She taunted a sneer on her face. "I said shut up, bitch!" he snarled at her, this time he didn't hold anything back, he hit her with a closed fist sending her flying to the floor. She could taste blood in her mouth, and her ears were ringing. She could barely make out a voice demanding she get up. Even if she wanted to she couldn't have right at that moment. She felt as if she got hit by a damn truck.

As the stars started to clear from her vision he violently grabbed her and yanked her up to him. His face was inches from hers. "You need to learn to keep your fucking mouth shut." He said angrily. Her baiting him had worked, though the idiot had let her get close enough to him to pull a knife from his belt. "Oh yeah? Well, you need to learn not to let your guard down, you stupid prick." His anger turned to confusion and she plunged the knife into his side, twisting as she did so.

His body fell to the floor in front of her and she kicked it out of the truck. "Jess?" She heard Sam calling her name worriedly. "Jess! Where are you?" He called again. She jumped down from the truck. "I'm fine, I'm over here." She answered. She could hear them running towards her, their boots pounding against the ground.

She bent down over the man in front of her looking at him with contempt, then used his shirt to clean off the blade she has just used to kill him, his blade. She spat out the blood accumulating in her mouth onto this face.

"Jesus Jess, what the hell happened to your face?" Sam questioned the concern evident in his voice. She stood up slowly, still feeling a little woozy. She stumbled a little but Sam caught her. "I got hit with a sledgehammer." She nodded to the now dead man. "Are you ok?" He asked she could see he was angry about her being hit. She stepped away from him, "Yeah I'm fine."

Nathan shook his head, "From now on you stay with one of us, no more of this splitting up. There are too many shoreline guys out here."

"I can agree to that" she hadn't liked being separated either. She felt useless being tied up like that knowing she couldn't help them.

"Well, at least we have narrowed it down to just two towers now," Sam stated as they walked back to the jeep. He was careful to stay near Jessica, worried she might lose her balance again.

"Oh, really?" She said surprised. "So which one are we hitting first?"

"We are splitting up actually to make it faster. Nathan and Victor are taking one, and you my dear are coming with me to the other." He explained.

"Oh goody." She said sarcastically.


	6. Chapter 6, The towers

Chapter 6

It was nearing four and the city was bustling with life as Sam and Jessica made their way to the tower. The streets were lined with vendors trying to hawk their goods to locals and tourists alike. Jessica couldn't help but think how amazing the food smelled. The last thing she had eaten was a protein bar and that was hours ago. One of her favorite things about traveling had always been mingling with locals and sampling the local cuisine. She looked longingly at the food as they passed by stall after stall.

"Just get something to eat Jess," Sam said, he sounded annoyed but Jessica could see the smile he was trying to hold back. "What, no, I'm fine. Let's just get to the tower." She responded.

"Uh-huh," "Because you look like you are about to start drooling." He said sarcastically.

"I do not!" She snapped at him. "Jess, if you are hungry just grab something, quickly. You can walk and eat. It won't slow us down much." Sam pushed.

"Alright fine, but I want you to remember this was your idea." He waved his hand as if to say he didn't care. A few minutes later Jessica was eating coconut meat that had been cooked with sugar and vanilla.

"Mmm, this is amazing. Sam you have to try this." She insisted as she broke off a piece and held it up to his mouth. He obliged by opening his mouth and allowing her to place it on his tongue. Then he grabbed her wrist and he slowly chewed. "Sam…what are you doing?" She asked as she tried to pull her arm back. After he swallowed he pulled her hand back to him, took her finger into his mouth, and swirled his tongue around it, getting off all of the sugary substance.

When he was finished he kissed the inside of her wrist and dropped her arm. "Your right its delicious," He smirked at her.

Jessica's face flushed with heat, and her heart was racing. She took a quick step back and cleared her throat. "Something wrong?" He inquired knowing full well what it was.

"Don't play that game with me. You have to stop Sam." She said while picking up the pace, she needed to this over with so they could meet back up with Nathan and Sully. She could not be alone with him. "Stop what?" He said faking innocence.

"Stop that! All of this." She replied waving her hands in the air. "We can't do this right now. We have to stay focused or we could end up getting ourselves and Nate and Sully killed."

"Alright, alright. Geez, I was just trying to have a little fun." He exclaimed.

They continued their quick pace towards the tower. "It's nice to know I can still get you all hot and bothered, though." He said cockily.

"Sam!" She said exasperatedly. "Drop it!" He laughed out loud in response.

Jessica distanced herself from him when they reached the tower. Her body was still thrumming with desire. What she needed was a nice cold shower, and for Sam to not touch her for the rest of this trip…or stand too close to her. Yeah, that's what she needed.

They looked around the tower searching for any kind of pirate looking design. Unfortunately, they found nothing. They must have been in the wrong tower. Which meant that Nathan and Sully were at the right one. "Call the others, whatever we are looking for must be at their tower." She sighed. She really wished they had been the ones to go to the other tower. Sam needed a good puzzle or something to keep him distracted…from her.

"Right," He responded and pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Sully's phone. "Hey, we just searched our tower, and we've got nothing."

"Yeah, well, we're definitely in the right place. Make your way over here," Sully replied on the other end.

"Are you serious? Alright, we're on the way." Sam answered. "You heard the man, let's move out." He ushered her towards the door.

As they were making their way back to the where they had left the jeep Nathan was continuously texting Sam pictures, from another test Avery had left. "So, what was the point in bringing us along? I mean its not like I don't want to help you, it's just that I know virtually nothing about pirate history and even Nathan doesn't know as much as you do. You don't really need us, or at least you wouldn't if Rafe wasn't involved, but you didn't know about him until a few days ago." She asked to fill the silence

"Nathan and I started this together and it only felt right that we finish it together. Besides while I have the background information Nathan is able to put all of the pieces together faster than I am. I really hadn't planned on you coming along, it was Nathans idea to ask for your help." He stated.

Wow, ok. That felt like a slap in the face. Hadn't he wanted to call her? When had he planned on telling her he was back? Had he intended on telling her after they found the treasure? Had he planned on telling her at all? Here she was again letting herself get all distracted by thinking about him, and what they may or may not be to each other. Great, she was acting like a teenage girl. This nervous second-guessing herself around him was nothing new. "Oh, that makes sense." She replied in a monotone voice.

Sam winced inwardly. He had put his foot in his mouth again, why did he always do that around her? "I mean, I wanted to see you. I just didn't want you getting caught up in this again, I know how much you were against it before. Having Rafe involved and a whole army on our tails just makes it worse." He explained.

Jessica shook her head, "Sam, I never had a problem with looking for Avery's treasure, I had a problem with you making unilateral decisions for all of us and not listening to my ideas. Not to mention the way you only seemed to care about finding said treasure," Jessica stopped talking when she realized he was no longer listening to her.

His phone buzzed again as another picture from Nathan came through.

Sam stopped dead in his tracks, "Holy shit…"

Nathan called in a minute later _"Sam,"_

Sam answered excitedly, "Nathan do you understand what this means? _"Sam, listen to me. Get off the streets right now, and destroy your phone."_ Sam appeared concerned and Jessica gave him a questioning look. He held a hand up to signal her to hold on. "What's going on?" _"Rafe knows where we are! Alright? You have to get off the streets."_

Before Sam could reply a few shots rang out and hit the wall directly behind them. "Shit!" he cursed as he shoved Jessica down. He hung up his phone and dropped into his pocket. "Where did that come from?" She asked as she looked around for the shooters. It wasn't hard to find them as the rest of the crowd was either running or taking cover in various buildings. Three men were advancing on them quickly.

"I'm so sick of these assholes always shooting at us!" She yelled. Jessica yanked out her gun and planted her feet, then she held the gun up eye level and looked down the sight both hands gripping it tightly. She fired exactly three shots and took out all three men.

Sam grabbed her hand and they ran for one of the motorbikes that had belonged to one of the now dead soldiers. Jessica jumped on behind him and Sam took off so fast the back end fished tailed. They hadn't even made it a block before two trucks and at least five more bikers appeared.

"You have to lose them, Sam! I don't have enough bullets left to take them all out." She said in between shots. "What the hell does it look like I'm trying to do!" He yelled at her.

They were headed out of the city and into more open ground, which meant there was more room for the shoreline mercs to surround them. "Shit!" She cursed loudly. They were so fucked. "Just hold on." He said tensely. Jessica locked her left arm tightly around his waist and said a silent prayer.

She heard shooting behind her but this time it didn't seem to be directed at her or Sam. She turned around and saw…"Nathan!?"

"Nathan?" Sam questioned not taking his eyes off the road in front of them. "Your brother is hanging from a tow line on the truck behind us!"

She watched as Nathan stole a Jeep and continued to pick off some more soldiers. Between the two of them they took out the rest of the trucks and most of the other bikes. Nathan pulled beside careful to keep at the same speed as them. "Hey!" He yelled. "Hey, little brother!" Sam yelled back. Jessica rolled her eyes, leave it to them to act like they weren't being shot at right at that very moment.

Sam pulled the bike closer so they could jump to the jeep. Jessica jumped first and made it safely. She was standing with one hand on the roll bar and the other stretched out for Sam. but a large truck came at them from the side and rammed them. Jessica went flying as the jeep slid to the side and then rolled a few times before landing on its top.

It took a few minutes for Jessica to reorient herself, her ears were ringing and her sight was dizzy as she attempted to stand up. She had a small cut on her forehead and she suspected a few bruised ribs. She panicked when she saw the jeep catch fire, she could see Nathan struggling to get out from under it. She was still struggling to get to her feet as well when two men on bikes pulled up next to her. By some stroke of luck or divine intervention she hadn't lost her gun and was able to pull it out fast enough to take down both men.

She struggled to her feet and noticed that Nate was out of the vehicle. As he was standing up another truck came at them from the right side this time.

"Fuck! Nate let's go!" She yelled motioning to the bike near her and jumped on it, revving it up. He started towards her but then they both realized he would never make it to her and the bike before the truck got to them. Like a guardian angel, Sam swooped in next to Nathan to pick him up, barely slowing down for him to jump on the back.

Sam and Jessica gunned it and sped off down the road with the truck right behind them. She fired at the truck but only had a few bullets left. When the clip was empty she tossed the gun to the side angrily. Now it was up to Nathan to try to stop the truck, he continued shooting at it as it chased them through a shipyard.

Jessica considered herself a pretty strong rider but it turns out racing through shipping containers with an armored truck that had a minigun attached to its roof on their asses, was enough to make anyone nervous. Her heart was beating faster than she thought possible as she dodged bullets and multiple other obstacles.

She had pulled ahead of Sam and Nathan, she suspected that Sam had fallen back intentionally so that they were drawing most of the fire. Jessica turned back to assure herself they were ok, when she turned back forward she saw a shipping container directly in front of them. To her left, there was a makeshift ramp against a container and she made a split second decision to jump it. She really had no choice if she attempted to slide under the container in front of her while wearing shorts she was likely to rip the flesh off her legs all the way down to the bone. Strong rider or not she doubted she would be able to take the bike down that low without dropping it.

So she took the ramp, Sam and Nathan were seconds behind her. They chose the most direct route and went under the container. The truck hit the shipping container right after she jumped off the container next to it. "Oh, shit!" She screamed as she came down. It was going to be close, there was shrapnel flying all around her. She landed roughly next to the guys who were staring at the explosion and did a 180 before sliding to a stop next to them.

"Holy shit," Sam exclaimed. "Yeah…" Nathan seconded. Jessica leaned down over the handlebars. "You good jess?" Sam asked her. She looked up to him, "I really need to find new friends." She joked still breathing heavy, and the guys laughed.

"You love us too much for that," Nathan said playfully. "Yeah well, loving you two is hazardous to my health," she replied sarcastically.

Sam smirked, he wondered if she realized she had just admitted to loving him. "Let's get out of here," he said to them.

When they got back to the hotel room it was after dark, and Sully was already there. Sam looked around, "Alright I think the coast is clear." Nathan pulled out his notebook and began flipping through pages looking over the clues they had gathered. "Yeah, alright…"

Sully met them by the bikes, "I see you three made it out ok."

"Way better than ok…we found Libertalia," Sam said excitedly and laughed. "Liber-what?" Sully asked confused.

"Libertalia." Nathan corrected him as they walked back to the room. "It seems Avery founded the legendary pirate colony," Sam stated.

"Wait a minute…so that's where the treasure is? In Libertalia? I thought that place was just a myth?" Jessica asked she had so many questions running through her mind.

"Ok, the story says that this place provided a safe haven for hundreds, maybe even thousands of pirates. And they shared everything. The property, resources…"

"Money?" Sully asked cutting him off.

Sam nodded his head, "and they kept it all in one common treasury,"

"Ok, so where is this…commie pirate sanctuary?" Sully asked rushing him to the point.

Nathan turned to them book in hand. "Right here," he pointed at the map laid across it. "It's an island just northeast of Kings Bay,"

"Wait doesn't Rafe have a copy of this too?" Jessica pointed out.

Nathan opened the door to their room and looked back at her, "Yeah, but by the time Rafe figures it out…we'll be well on our way to Libertalia." He said brushing her off. "I'm telling you that treasure is as good as ours…ssshhit." He exclaimed as he walked into the room.

Elena was standing over their makeshift base of operations looking through all of Nathans maps and notes. Well, this did not look good Jessica thought to herself. It was somewhat of a relief to her, though, she hated feeling like she was helping Nathan lie to his wife.

"How's the Malaysia job going Nate?" Elena asked very calmly. "seems like you're a hair off course."

"Elena its not what it looks like." Nathan tried to explain.

"Really because it looks like you are searching for Henry Avery's treasure, and given the shoreline soldiers all over town, I'm guessing you're not the only one looking for it." She said.

"Well, I guess it's kind of what it looks like, but you don't understand," Nathan stated.

Jessica sighed and shook her head, this scene was all too familiar for her. She only hoped that Nathan didn't say the wrong thing and ruin it for himself. He was skating on very thin ice, and depending on which way this conversation went he could very well be looking at divorce papers when they got back.

Nathan took a deep breath, "Ok…well, um for starters…this is Sam, Sam Drake." He said motioning to Sam who was leaning awkwardly against the wall. "My brother."

Elena looks to Sam and then to Jessica where her gaze lingered. Jessica shifted uncomfortably. She had mentioned Sam to Elena awhile back, only she had left out the part about him being Nathan's brother.

A year or so after Elena and Nathan had started dating, Elena had tried to set her up with a journalist friend of hers, and then another and then another. Eventually, Jessica broke down and explained that she wasn't interested in dating anyone on a serious level. Jessica had told her about her fiancée "Sam", that he had died and that it hurt her to think about him. She had never told Elena that Nathan knew about him, and she had certainly never told her they were brothers. Jessica had felt guilty about it at the time but, she reasoned it away by telling herself that Elena had never asked her whether Nathan knew him.

Jessica looked down at the ground unable to meet Elena's gaze.

Sam did a little wave toward Elena, "Hi." He said softly.

Elena looked both surprised and distressed at the same time. She turned to Sully who simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm sorry."

"I thought he had died in a Panamanian jail," Nathan explained. Elena took a step back. "He has been stuck in there for ten years…and it's because of me. The guy who broke him out wants a lot of money and the only way we can pay off the debt is to find Avery's treasure. But the good news is we found it! It's on an island just off the coast." He said excitedly.

Elena shook her head, "Okay, just stop." She held up a hand to silence him. "Was there ever… a Malaysia job?"

A few more terse words were said before Elena moved to leave the room, Nathan halfheartedly attempted to stop her. "If you were killed…I wouldn't have even known about it." Elena said with a hint of sarcastic laughter in her voice. "And know you have a brother…who are you?" She hissed at him.

"Come on," Nathan said in that tone men tended to use when they thought a woman was overreacting. "I'm me, come on, I'm still me…it's different this time. I have to save him. I don't even care about the treasure,"

"The look on your face when you walked into this room…if you're done lying to me then you should stop lying to yourself." Elena said shaking her head at him.

Nathan didn't respond and looked down to the floor.

"I've got a plane to catch…you do what you have to do. She stated then walked out.

Nathan stared at the door for a moment as if unsure what to do, before walking over to the table.

"Hey, what are you doing? Go after her!" Sully said as if he couldn't believe Nathan would just let her leave.

"Were not done here," Nathan replied.

"Well maybe we should be, maybe there is a smarter way to save Sam. Would could give him a new identity. We…we put him in hiding. I've got contacts-" Sully declared.

"He's been in prison for ten years! He's not going into hiding." Nathan responded raising his voice.

"Fine. Then you go after your wife! The three of us will head to Libertalia." Sully said motioning to her and Sam.

"Without me?" Nate questioned. "Come on, you'll get all of you killed." He said cynically.

Sully scoffed, "Hey kid, I've been doing this for a helluva long time I think I can handle-"

Nathan turned to him, "You want to be helpful Sully? Go keep an eye on her!" and he pointed to the door. "Whatever you say, kid," Sully whispered before leaving the room.

Sam approached Nathan awkwardly. "Do you…need a hand with anything?"

"I got it," Nathan spit back.

Jessica kept her spot leaning against the wall, but she crossed her arms. "That's it then?" She asked. Nathan didn't respond. "You are just going to let her walk away?" Still, he pretended not to hear her. She pushed off from the wall "And what if we don't make it back, how do you think that will effect her" She asked.

"We will." He finally spoke.

"Are you so sure of that?" She persisted. He was quiet again. "Yeah…that's what I thought." She said angrily then turned to the door.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked worriedly. "Where do you think!" She said sharply. She knew it wasn't Sam's fault and felt a little bad for taking her anger out on him.

Jessica caught up to Elena and Sully down the street as they were waiting for a cab. "Elena," she started, "I'm sorry, I wanted him to tell you, really I did. I even thought about telling you myself but I knew it would only make things worse."

Elena looked at her and sighed, "It's not your fault, Nathan makes his own decisions. Why didn't you tell me your Sam was Nathans brother?"

"I don't know…it's just that after Nathan finally accepted that Sam was dead, he just refused to talk about him anymore. It caused him too much pain I guess. I felt like it wasn't my place to tell you." She attempted to explain.

Elena nodded in understanding, "You're right, it should have been him."

Jessica cursed inwardly, she had come to try and smooth things over but she seemed to be making it worse. "You have to understand…the way we lost him…I mean, Nathan was there he watched his brother get gunned down before his eyes…then to find out he has been alive all this time, in prison. He feels like he owes him."

"You and I both know this is about more than his long lost brother, it's about the treasure. Nathan never could resist a good treasure hunt." Elena unhappily.

"I know, and Sam has always been the same way. I can't explain it. It's just always been that way with them. They have been after Avery's treasure since we were kids. I have tried asking why it's so important but Sam always told me I wouldn't understand." Jessica expressed.

A cab stopped by the curb and Elena shook her head sadly, "How can we be expected to share our lives with men who don't trust us enough to let us in?"

Jessica stood there speechless, she had always felt that was the case, but hearing someone else say it really drove the fact home. She was still standing there as the Cab drive off with Elena and Sully in tow.


	7. Chapter 7: First Meeting

Chapter 7

Flashback 22 years ago

"Sam hurry up!" Nathan said anxiously, the young boy was shifting from foot to foot. The two brothers were in a back alley, and Sam was trying to pick the lock on the back door of a pawn shop. Despite the fact that it after midnight, Nathan who was only 13 was worried they would get caught and Sam would go back to jail. It had been almost a year since the two had been on the run and Sam had been providing for them anyway he could. Most of the time that meant stealing, sometimes it was food, sometimes it was money.

"Would you relax? No one is going to catch us. The cop who patrols this area is probably asleep in his patrol car." Sam replied.

Nathan heard a noise behind them and jerked around quickly ready to run. "What was that?"

Sam looked around the alley and saw nothing. "It was probably a rat or something, nothing to be worried about.

Nathan felt some of the tension leave his body at his brother's reassurance. He watched while his brother struggled to get the door open.

"You look like you need some help." A cheeky voice said from behind them.

Both brothers spun around. A girl in her early teens was standing behind them, with one hand on her hip and the other holding her skateboard. She had medium length black hairs that was braided into pigtails. She was wearing a backwards baseball cap, a Nirvana t-shirt a ripped pair of blue jeans and a red and black plaid shirt tied around her waist.

"It's not what it looks like!" Sam blurted out, attempting to hide his makeshift pick behind his back.

The girl smiled cockily, "Really? Cause it looks like you are trying to break into my father's store." She stated.

Sam turned red, he just knew they were screwed. "Please don't call the cops! We're so sorry. It's just that we sold our grandfathers watch last week and when Sam tried to buy it back your dad wanted almost triple what he paid us for it. We weren't going to take anything else, I swear." Nathan said rushing through each word. He gasped loudly after his plea as he hadn't taken a single breath between sentences. "Nathan shut it!" Sam exclaimed.

She girl looked at them not saying anything merely smacking on her gum loudly. After what seemed like an eternity she finally spoke. "Why didn't you just say so?" Then she grinned at them.

Nathan stood dumbstruck. "Wait…what?" Sam asked incredulously. This girl could not be serious; she didn't care at all that they had been trying to break into her father's store?

"My dad is a massive jerk; he rips all of his customers off. You will never get the door open with that though." She said pointing to the tool he had hidden behind his back. Sam looked at the girl like she had lost her mind, he also felt a little insulted.

She pushed him out of the way and pulled a lock pick and a tension wrench put of her back pocket. Both brothers stood back and wondering what kind of teenage girl carried actual lock picking tools around in her back pocket. "My name is Jessica by the way." She said as she went to work on the lock. Sam watched in amazement as the girl expertly picked the lock, she had the door open in under two minutes.

Jessica motioned for them to follow her and shut the door behind them. "Wait here for a minute, I have to turn off the cameras." She disappeared into a side room for a few minutes before reappearing. "Your watch is going to be in that case over there." She pointed to a case near the register and then tossed Sam a ring of keys.

"Why are you helping us?" Sam questioned still not believing what was happening.

Jessica shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, maybe it's because I hate my dad, or maybe it is out of pity for you two. Who knows?"

Sam went over to the case to retrieve his watch, not taking his eyes off of the girl, he still wasn't sure they could trust her. She surprised him again when he saw her open the register and take out a fifty. After she closed it up again she went directly over to the electronics corner and browsed through the CD players before picking up a plain black one and shoving in her backpack.

After Sam had fastened his watch back on his wrist he approached her. "Why are you stealing from your dad's store?" He asked.

She turned to him looking bored. "He basically forgets I exist unless he needs help here, and I have learned to never ask him for money. So I take what I need."

Sam nodded his head beginning to understand. So she was like them, stealing to survive.

"You guys need anything else? I do all of the inventory on the weekends, he never notices when anything is missing unless it's a big ticket item." She said like it was no big deal.

Nathan looked longingly at the CD players on the shelf behind them. "I have always wanted a Discman…" He said quietly.

"Nathan! We didn't come here for that. I will buy you one myself." Sam stated.

"Don't sweat it." Jessica replied. Then she picked one up from the shelf and grabbed a pair of headphones to go with it. "My dad would just buy cheap booze with the money anyway." She said as she handed the things over to Nathan. "Sweet." Nathan said in response.

They were standing outside in the alley less than ten minutes after they had first entered. Sam watched with fascination as she reverse picked the lock. "How do you do that?" He asked curiously.

Once again she shrugged her shoulders, "It's pretty easy really. To relock it you just have to tease the tumblers down instead of up like you do to unlock it." She stated like it was no big deal.

"No, I mean like how did you learn to pick locks?" Sam asked.

Jessica rolled her eyes as she stood up. "Practice?" Both Sam and Nathan looked at her like they expected a better answer. She sighed. "Alright, geez. I pocketed the set from the store last year and read a book on lock picking. I practiced on the doors at home while my dad was out. Once I got it down I started coming here for cash or whatever."

"Have you ever broken into any other places?" Nathan asked.

She grabbed her skateboard and laid it the ground next to her. "Yea a few times, once at the corner store to steal a six pack after I drank a few of my dad's beers. I had to replace them before he found out. I didn't want to give him any excuse to knock me around."

"Why would you risk something like that for a few beers?" Sam asked.

"I just felt like." She stated like it made perfect sense. Sam and Nathan looked at her bewildered.

"You guys wanna grab some pizza? There is a place a few blocks away that is open until two."

"That would be awesome." Nathan exclaimed. It wasn't often he got to hang out with other kids now that he wasn't going to school. "Can we go Sam?" he asked his brother. Both Nathan and Jessica were looking at him with begging eyes. Jessica didn't have many friends other than the guys at the skate park and one girl in her homeroom, so she was also excited at the prospect of company.

"Sure." Sam answered ruffling his brother's hair. Nathan pushed his hand away while laughing.

"Cool, let's go then." Jessica said and started off on her skateboard pushing herself along slowly so Nathan could walk beside her.

Sam kept pace with them and stayed quiet for most of the walk lost in his thoughts. All he could think was how strange this girl was. She dressed like a boy, picked locks like an expert, and couldn't have been much older than Nathan. She also casually mentioned her father beating on her like it was no big deal. Not to mention she and Nathan seemed to have hit it off pretty well. He realized that she was probably going to be around for a while whether he liked it or not. Even though she was sarcastic and a little wacked in the head, he found himself ok with that idea.

Two years later

Nathan and Jessica were sitting on Jessica's bed in her room playing the new tomb raider game on her PlayStation. The game had just come out the month before and Sam and Nathan had bought it for Jessica's birthday, they had also given her a cake. Sam was eating a piece of that cake while watching them play.

"Hey Jess is it cool if I grab a beer from the fridge?" Nathan asked.

Not taking her eyes of the screen she replied, "Eww gross what kind of crazy person drinks beer while eating cake?"

"The kind of crazy person that just gave you a videogame?" he replied not missing a beat.

She shook her head, "Yeah go ahead, drink what you want. Just replace it before you go home tonight. Its nickel beer night and Gino's bar so you know my dad won't be home till at least 3 A.M."

"Yeah no problem." Sam responded as he walked to the kitchen. It was routine for them, Sam would sometimes grab a beer or two while at her house, but he always replaced them.

"How cool would it be to be an actual treasure hunter?" Jessica asked.

"So cool, I could be like Indiana Jones! Fighting bad guys and getting all the ladies." Nathan responded.

Jessica laughed loudly, "As if! The only ladies you can get are made of cardboard."

Nathan shoved her knocking her off the bed. She jumped up and tackled him. When Sam got back to the room the two of them had turned the floor into a wrestling ring. Jessica had Nathan in a head lock and was attempting to shove a dirty sock in his mouth.

Sam chuckled, "Come on little brother you are making me look bad, I'm the one that taught you to fight." Nathan finally gave up the match and Jessica did a victory lap around her room.

A few hours later the three of them were sitting around her kitchen table finishing off the rest of the cake. It was her sweet sixteen as people liked to say, and Sam and Nathan were the only ones to give her a gift. Her friend Carly had told her happy birthday, but that was it. Even her dad hadn't mentioned it, although he never did so it was no surprise.

Truthfully, Jessica didn't mind. She couldn't think of a better way to spend the day. Sam and Nathan were the only two people in the world that actually gave a shit about her anyways. Even her teachers didn't care a few of them outright hated her, at this point she didn't know why she bothered to go.

It was getting close to eleven and Sam had a job lined up for the next day so he need to get to sleep. "Hey I'm going to run up to the store and grab some beer, I will be back in 15."

Nathan and Jessica had returned to her room to play the game for a little while longer, and they were sitting on her bed when she heard her dad.

"JESSICA! What's all this goddamn mess? And why the fuck were you drinking my beer!"

Jessica and Nathan turned white as sheets. He was slurring his words so she knew he was drunk, she ran to her door and shut it. "Shit, shit, shit, Nathan get in the closet." She whispered urgently, pushing him towards it.

"No! I'm not hiding like some little kid. Besides I'm bigger than you, I might be able to hold him off while you run." He said in a firm but quiet voice. Jessica was like a sister to him and Sam had always taught him men shouldn't hit women.

She looked like she wanted to argue with him but she could hear her father stomping down the hall. "Answer me when I talk to you damnit!" He roared from right outside her door. It was too late. Her blood turned to ice as he burst through the door.

He stood in her doorway for a moment, his skin had turned a mottled red and he was shaking with rage. Jessica had never seen him so angry, she was genuinely terrified this time.

"What the hell are you doing in here boy!" he barked at Nathan.

He turned back to Jessica and pointed a finger at her accusingly. "Are you fucking this little street rat girl?" His voice was cold and he was sounding eerily sober.

"No, its not like that dad. I swear we were just playing a videogame!" She tried to explain, but her voice was cracking and her words were hard to make out.

"DON'T LIE TO ME GIRL!" He roared at her. Nathan subtly inched his way towards her hoping to put himself between them. "You're nothing but a little whore, Just like your goddamn mother!"

He reached out and backhanded her so hard that he knocked her to the ground. Her head was spinning as she got up. Nathan was wrestling with her dad, but he was no match for the older man who had near 200 lbs on the him. Jessica yelled at her father to stop and beat at his back as he dragged Nathan out of the room and threw him outside into the yard. He slammed the door closed and locked it.

Her dad turned to her, he swayed slightly but regained his balance quickly. She froze like a deer in the headlights. He took one step towards her and she bolted, but fear was weighing down her every step, she tripped over her feet in the kitchen and he grabbed a fistful of her hair. He slammed her against the wall and back handed her again. He held her against the wall, lifting her up by her hair so that she was eye level with him and her feet were barely touching the floor. "How long have you been fucking that boy in my house?" He demanded that icy rage still evident in his tone.

Jessica was sobbing, "Please, I didn't I swear-"

"I SAID DON'T LIE TO ME! I bet he already knocked you up didn't he?" He cut her off, slurring his words again. With his free hand he slammed his fist into to her gut, then he did so again and again until Jessica went limp from the pain, no longer fighting his hold. She would have fainted from the pain but he was shaking her and screaming in her face. She couldn't see through the pain and he sounded so far away but she was still conscious.

When Sam pulled up the curb in front of Jessica's house he instantly knew something was wrong. Nathan was slamming himself against the door like he was trying to break it down. He jumped out of the truck and he ran to the porch. He didn't have to ask his brother what was wrong he could hear Jessica's father on the inside yelling. Nathan's shirt was stretched out and he was fighting back tears but otherwise he looked unharmed. Sam knew that wouldn't be the case with Jessica.

"Move!" Sam ordered his brother. He placed his shoulder against the door and slammed into it. He had to do so a couple times but he could hear the wood splintering around the doorknob. His vision turned red when he heard the cracking sound of an open hand meeting flesh. With one final slam he had to door open. He took one look at the scene and blacked out. He didn't remember what happened next. When he came to he was holding a broken chair leg and Jessica's father was unconscious under him. A splitting pain in his head brought him back to reality.

He found Nathan sitting next to Jessica trying to calm her down, but the 15-year-old had no clue how to do that.

Sam dropped down to his knees in front of her. She was holding her knees tightly to her chest and her head was down resting on her forearms. She was also shaking and he could hear that she was crying. Sam gently lifted her head up, he swore inwardly when he saw the cut on her lip and the bruises already forming on her lip.

"Nathan go grab me some ice." He asked his brother careful to keep his voice low so as not to startle Jessica. He could see that she was in shock, her eyes were glazed over and she was barely responsive. He picked her up carefully not wanting to cause her anymore pain and carried her to the couch. She curled up into a ball once he laid her down, so he sat down and began to gently stroke her hair. Nathan returned with some ice wrapped in a towel. "Go grab one of her bags and throw some clothes in, hurry before he wakes up."

"But, I don't know what to grab!" Nathan said anxious at the idea of touching her undergarments. "Just do it Nathan!" He said a little louder than he intended. Jessica flinched and once again he cursed to himself. Nathan ran back to her room and proceeded to throw random items of clothing into a bag. Sam bent down closer to Jessica and whispered. "It's going to be ok, Jess, I swear it. You are coming home with us. We are the only family you need."

 _A/N: I wrote this flashback because I wanted to dive deeper into why Jessica has the bond she does with the Drake brothers and why she remained close Nathan even after Sam's supposed death. I also wanted to explain why she continues to help them even after everything that goes wrong during their search. Sam and Nathan are literally her best friends and even though she and Nathan are closer in age then she and Sam are, they have never had anything more than a brother sister relationship. I am sorry I waited so long to post this chapter, but after this I will only have a few more chapters to finish the story. I am planning a series of one- shots as part of an epilogue though._


	8. Chapter 8, At Sea

Chapter 8

Jessica was sitting towards the middle of the boat a few feet behind Sam, who was at the helm. Nathan was sitting at the back looking out behind them. She wondered if he was regretting what happened between him and Elena. Was he thinking he had made a mistake letting her walk away? Jessica thought it was more likely that he was planning on how to make it up to Elena when he got back. That's what he did, after running off on some hunt or messing things up. Elena always forgave him, that's what she did. Jessica wasn't so sure that's what was going to happen this time. There are only so many times a person can say their sorry and mean it. Now, she had no doubt that Nathan was sorry he hurt Elena, but she knew he wasn't sorry about this. He had been chasing this dream as long as she had known him. Hell, he had made her believe in it too. He and Sam both had, from the first time they told her about the lost pirate gold she had been hooked. She loved the excitement of a good treasure hunt as much as they did. She had just never lived by the "any means necessary code".

She sighed loudly and looked out over the water. Nathan and Sam were the only family she had. The three of them had been through so much together, she would never walk away from either of them in a time of need. She owed them that much, she also knew they would always be there for her as well. Nathan had proven that many times over after Sam's "Death". She had spent many a night getting tanked in local hole in the wall bars that first year. Nathan was always right there with her. After she sobered up, she had apologized to Nathan. She knew that Sam dying had taken even more of a toll on him than her. He just hid it better than her. Nathan of course had told her she had nothing to be sorry for, because that's just who he was.

He kept an eye on her and always made sure that she got home ok. In some cases, he had had to carry her out. She shuddered to think of what might have happened had he not been there. There had been one incident with Rafe in particular that could have had a rather nasty outcome. Nathan had been her savior though, he always was and there was nothing she wouldn't do for him.

Jessica turned around to look at Nathan once more, she hadn't spoken much to him this morning, hadn't wanted to. That being said he hadn't been much in the mood for talking either. She got up reluctantly and walked carefully back to the boat to where Nathan was. She sat down next to him in an exaggerated motion so that he had to acknowledge her. He turned his body forward so he could look at her. Jessica didn't say anything; she didn't need to. They had been best friends for so long they could practically read each other's minds. She reached up and put her hand on his shoulder, then she gave him a smile that simply said I'm here for you. He gave a small smile back in response as if to say I know, then he placed a hand on top of hers.

"Hey guys!" Sam called from the front of the boat. "Yeah?" Nathan answered his brother.

"Land ho!" Sam said, excitement in his voice. Jessica and Nathan walked to the front and took up positions next to Sam. They looked out over the water and could just make out an island behind some clouds in the distance.

"What do you think of that?" Sam asked. "I think that's pretty cool." Nathan said with a laugh. "Here take the wheel for a second." Sam said to Nathan.

He went to cooler in the back and grabbed three beers out of it. "You know all of this running around, surviving by the skin of our teeth, I don't think we have actually taken a moment…to step back and appreciate how far we've come." He popped the top on two of the beers, he handed one to her and Nathan. Then he opened the last one for himself.

"It has been quite the journey…three street kids and here were are, about to make one of the biggest historical finds ever." Jessica mused. Sam grinned at her thinking it might be the understatement of the year.

"Sic parvis magna." Nathan said in toast. "Sic Parvis Magna." Sam replied.

"yeah…what you guys said." The three of them shared a laugh then clanked their bottles together in unison.

Jessica took a big swig of her beer and sat back in the captain's chair behind Nathan. She took a look down at her bottle and smiled. "Day drinking on a boat, now this I could get used to." Sam laughed but Nathan seemed lost in his thoughts again.

She watched as Sam turned back to Nathan. "Listen to me little brother, she will get over it. I mean we bring back a treasure like that, anyone would."

Jessica took another drink of her beer to hide her scowl. There he went again, acting like treasure could solve anything, it could make any wrong right. The man was delusional. Nathan seemed to share her sentiment.

He shook his head, "I don't know. I think that maybe I've done this one too many times." He said sadly then pushed up the throttle. Jessica wanted to argue with him, she wanted to tell him it would be ok, that they would make it through this alive and with the treasure, and that Elena would forgive him. The truth was she just didn't know if any of those things would happen.

Once they reached the island they realized it was more like a small group on mini islands and some rocks. Just great, she thought to herself. Why did she get the feeling this was just another pit stop.

Nathan spotted a tower of some kind sitting on a hill on one of the larger islands and pulled the boat up to it. The three of them jumped out onto the shore and looked up at the tower.

"Alright lets go take a look." Nathan said motioning for them to follow him.

"You two go ahead, I think I will hangout down here and have a look around." She responded. There was no way she was climbing all the way up there for another stupid clue just to come right back to the boat. There was no way the gold was in that tower, not if there was as much as they thought.

Sam gave her a look that said he wasn't leaving her behind again.

"Look I'll be fine ok? If shoreline shows up, I will hide behind a rock or something like a good little damsel in distress." She snarked.

He cocked an eyebrow at her joke but didn't laugh. Nathan slapped his brothers shoulder. "Sam, let's just go. We didn't see a single shoreline boat on the water, and we won't be gone long." Sam reluctantly agreed and followed Nathan off to the tower. "Just shout if you find any gold hiding under a rock." She called as they walked off.

Jessica glared at his back. Did he really not think she could handle herself? I mean she knew he cared about her, but really. She could handle being on her own for a little while. She reached up and touched her face. A light purple bruise had formed on her jaw from where that gorilla of a man had hit her yesterday. Seeing bruises on her always sent Sam into overprotective mode. She may have understood why, but that didn't make it any easier for her to deal with. She wasn't a weak little girl who needed his protection anymore.

Jessica paced along the beach absent mindedly. She wasn't really sure what she should be looking for but she was enjoying the surroundings. The beach was her favorite place to be. She had a small place right on the beach in Fiji. The bungalow was very secluded, so it was perfect for when she wanted to get away. The water there was the exact same color as it was here. A beautiful crystal clear blue. She smiled as she pictured herself there right now, laying in her hammock right next to the water.

Jessica was so caught up in the scenery she almost didn't notice the seal laying right in front of her. Not even fifty feet from the boat. How did they not notice it immediately? She approached it and noticed the golden arrow in the center of it. Well, she guessed it was another one of Avery's damn clues and plopped down on it. She might as well take a seat here while she waited for the guys to return. Which they did less than five minutes later.

"Find anything good? Any gold pieces, or maybe a few rubies?" She said sarcastically. "Just this arrow that your sitting on, and another right across from us on that island over there." Nathan stated then pointed towards the other seal. "So back in the boat?" She asked annoyed.

"Back in the boat." Sam confirmed. Jessica let out a small sigh as she followed them back into the boat. Sure she was enjoying the scenery and the fact that they hadn't seen even a glimpse of Shoreline today, but she was really getting tired of the run around. No less than ten arrows later they found a secret "pirate cave" as Sam had dubbed it.

There was no direct way up the ledge that led further into the island, so they had to climb a pillar in the center and swing over to it. Nathan went first as per usual, then Jessica followed him over. They both made it over with little trouble but Sam seemed to struggle for a minute.

Jessica stood back from the ledge and watched his attempt. "You coming?" She jested. Sam seemed slightly out of breath as he spoke. "Okay, hold on. I just gotta not fall to my death over here." He swung over somewhat wildly. "Whoa! Whoa Whoa!"

Jessica was laughing so hard she was snorting. When he reached their side he spoke again unperturbed by her laughter. "See? I told you I had it." Then marched of after Nathan with all the confidence in the world.

They had to climb and jump and swing to get around a blocked passageway. But finally they made it to another opening. Unfortunately, it was pretty high up, and the stairs leading up to the rope bridge was broken. "Hey look over here!" Sam called out. Jessica and Nathan looked to where he was pointing and saw a second rope ladder hanging down. It was broken but hung down just low enough for a boost. "Hey, Sam come over here, I'll boost you up." Nathan spoke.

He lifted him up and Sam made his way across the rope bridge. Jessica watched with some interest. Something about the jeans he was wearing made his ass look great. Maybe it was just her angle though. She was standing almost directly below him. The bridge began to shake as he got closer to the middle. Then all of a sudden they could hear ropes snapping. Shit! This bridge was not going to hold. As it snapped in half Nathan cried out, "SAM!"

Jessica inhaled deeply and held her breath, praying he wouldn't fall and break something, like his head. Sam jumped as the bridge fell out from under him. He was just able to catch part of the bridge hanging over the side he was headed towards. Jessica exhaled loudly.

"Shit! You okay?" Nathan asked. "Well at least I made it to the other side…" Sam called down to them. "Christ Sam you scared the shit out of me!" Jessica yelled at him. Once he climbed up he looked down at her, "Don't worry cupcake, I'm indestructible." He looked so smug she wanted to slap him, and how dare he call her that. He knew how much she hated that nickname. She groaned loudly, "Sam really? We aren't kids anymore."

When they were younger Sam always teased her, actually he still did that. He thought it was funny to call her cupcake since she was so against anything feminine in her teens. She dressed like a boy and acted like a boy. Sam had watched some movie where the male lead kept referring to the female as "Cupcake." For months he refused to call her by her real name and only called her Cupcake. So everything was "relax Cupcake," or "careful there Cupcake." Eventually he started using the nickname less and less, but he still pulled it out occasionally to annoy her.

Sam smirked at her, "really I hadn't noticed?" Jessica planted her feet and crossed her arms. "Oh? I would have thought your receding hairline would have tipped you off." She fired back.

Nathan sensing the bickering that was about to ensue cut them off. "Well we still need a way up there."

"Alright, give me a second to find something." Sam replied before running off out of their line of sight. About five minutes passed and Sam still hadn't come back. Jessica was wandering around the ruins checking them out. She was always impressed by how long these structures could stand for. In a figurative sense of course. They were ruins after all which implied they were in a state of ruin. But seeing the remains, of old cities and structures that were sometimes thousands of years old was still amazing.

Nathan was pacing, she knew he was nervous about Sam being gone so long. Normally she would tell him not to sweat it, that Sam was either playing a joke or just hadn't found anything yet. This time she was feeling it as well, they did have an army after them after all.

"Sam? Anything?" Nathan shouted. Hoping his brother was near enough to hear him. There was no reply though. Nathan waited another few minutes before trying again. "Sam? Hey, you still there?" Once again there was no response. "God dammit!" Nathan said exasperated.

"Wait here, I'm going to find a way up and find out what's taking him so long." He said looking at Jessica. She raised an eyebrow at his authoritative tone but said nothing. She was a little concerned as well, but she didn't have that feeling telling her something was wrong. Plus, she hadn't heard any gunfire or shouting, so that had to be a good sign. Right?

She raised her hands in mock defeat as if to say she wouldn't object. Then she took a seat on a piece of rubble and watched him make his way up and over to the ledge where Sam had disappeared. Her heart jumped in her chest when the piece of wood he was hanging from started to give. It held though and he shimmied across it. He was almost to the ledge when Sam appeared again. "You're already up here?" He said surprised.

"Where the hell where you?" Nathan questioned in an annoyed tone. "I was finding a way to get you up here…" Sam trailed off.

Nathan dropped down to the rock formation below him, it was no more than four feet from where Sam was standing. "Alright, well jump over. I'll help you across." After Nathan made it over Jessica cleared her throat. She was now standing under the ledge looking up. As happy as she was that Sam was ok she was still stuck down here. She cleared her throat loudly, "I'm still down here in case you hadn't noticed." Both brothers looked over the edge simultaneously. Then they disappeared for a moment and a large crate came crashing down beside her. "Gee, thanks." She climbed on top of it and jumped reaching for Sam's outstretched hand. Once she was up top, she took a second to brush some of the dust of her clothes. Nathan seemed lost in thought and was staring off at the water. Sam must have notice it too. "Hey? Everything ok?" He asked concerned.

"Yeah, everything is fine. Let's keep going." Was Nates response, then he took off at a lite jog. Sam turned his head to look at her, he had a questioning look on his face. Jessica wasn't sure what was going on with Nathan, so she simply shrugged her shoulders. As they followed behind Nathan, Sam leaned over and quietly asked, "Is my hairline really receding?" Jessica choked on a laugh and shook her head.

After some nightmare inducing swinging over a massive cistern they were now standing in a small alcove at the base of it. Blueprints were spread around the room, and there was a model of a town of some sort in the center. What was this place?

"It looks like some kind of amusement park." Nathan joked. Sam laughed, "Pirate Land?"

Jessica stifled a laugh, it was amazing how stupid they could sound at times. "Hey guys, come check this out." She said calling them over. "It's a diorama of some kind." She explained.

"Huh, that looks like a city street…" Sam mused. "Do you think they actually built all of this stuff?

Nathan was busy at work capturing their find in his trusty notebook. "With these guys, I don't know anymore."

They had to strong arm their way into a room in the next cavern over but eventually they were standing under another of Avery's trials. She watched as Nathan used his "puzzle solving skills to unlock each tier. Each tier unveiled another pirate statue until eleven were circling the chamber and a set of stairs appeared in front of them leading to a platform. They walked up them and Nathan pulled the lever on the platform. Said platform jerked under them and began to slowly move upwards. "Holy crap are we in a freaking pirate elevator? This is insane." Jessica said excitedly. "Only question is where is it taking us?" Sam replied.

The platform let them off at the very top of the mountain. They were looking at the other islands. The one they had just been on was directly in front of them, and a giant statue of Avery had appeared on the beach. "You know; I'm starting to think our guy Avery was a bit of a narcissist." Sam stated. "You think?" Jessica quipped. "Let's make our way down there." Nathan suggested.

"Yeah sure let's go back to the island we were just on…" was Jessica's unenthusiastic response.

The storm was beginning to pick up as they hopped off at the other island. Jessica looked out across the water. The storm was moving fast and appeared to have come out of nowhere. The wind was whipping past them, the water had turned dark and the waves were rolling fiercely. She was beginning to get that bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Guys, I think I'm going to wait here. You know make sure the boat doesn't float away." She said with a forced laugh, not wanting her anxiety to show. "Alright, we will make it quick. Don't run off with our ride though." Sam ordered.

Not a chance of that, she thought to herself. This was looking like it would be one hell of a storm. She would rather be almost anywhere than out on that water right now. Hell, if she had her way they would wait it out in the tower behind them. She knew Sam wouldn't go for it, if anything he would run off on his own and get himself killed.

Before she knew it Sam and Nathan were back. They were hauling ass too, which was obviously not a good sign. "What's wrong?!" She cried over the storm. The two men jumped in to the boat and Nathan quickly fired up the boat. "Good news is I think we found libertalia, bad news is Shoreline is here." Sam answered. "Shit! Could things get any worse?" Jessica exclaimed. "Hold on! This is not going to be an easy ride." Nathan called out to them, then they took off in the direction of island.

Sam and Jessica were side by side clinging to the boat and each other as the waves beat at them. Threatening to rip their tiny boat to shreds. The rain was coming down in sheets and it was impossible to see more than a few feet in front of them without the fog light. Contrary to Jessica's earlier statement, things were about to get much worse.

Spotlights appeared behind them, "Nathan, they're gaining on us!" Sam shouted over the storm. Nathan pushed the throttle to the max. They earned a tad more speed but the boat was hitting each wave like a solid wall. Jessica could feel her teeth rattling in her head. A large wave hit them and Nathan went flying from the boat. "Nathan!" She cried out. She took control of the boat and circled back around to Nathan. Sam pulled him back into the boat to safety. Shoreline was right on top of them now. There was no way they could out run them. Nathan took back control of the boat and began ramming into the shoreline boats that got close enough to shoot.

Jessica was clinging to the railing on the side of the boat. Sam was facing her and had one arm wrapped tightly around her and one arm holding onto the railing. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the larger shoreline boats coming directly at their side. Jessica knew there was no time for Nathan to react. She closed her eyes tightly and turned her face into Sam's chest, he must have seen the other boat as well because he gripped her waist even tighter.

The boat hit them and sent them all flying. Sam never let go of her though. Which was good, because even though she was a decent swimmer, she would not have been able to fight these waves on her own. Finally, with the help of the current they made it the shore. Their boat was about sixty yards from them further down the shore, and it was on fire. Yeah there was no way they were leaving the island on that boat.

They were soaked and a little bruised but they were alive. Nathan was nowhere in sight though. They tried calling out to him, but they could barely hear each other over the storm. Not to mention shoreline was driving up and down this section of the coast looking for survivors. The couple went further into the island away from the beach and found a cave with some greenery to take shelter in.

Out of the rain and wind, and away from the immediate threat shoreline posed they collapsed onto the ground. After taking a few minutes to catch his breath Sam sat up, "Alright so here's the plan. We keep heading deeper into the island and searching for any clues Avery might have left." He explained.

Jessica looked at him in shock Was he serious? "You have to be kidding me? Nathan is still out there! What if he is hurt? Or shoreline has found him?"

"Nathan is smart he will be fine, besides I know my brother and he will keep heading towards the treasure too. It's the easier way to find him." Sam insisted.

Jessica couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What about the storm Sam? Its pitch black and we won't even be able to see more than a few feet in front of our noses! I' tired, I'm cold and frankly I'm worried that my best friend might have just drowned to death!" She argued, she knew she was starting to sound hysterical but she didn't even care at the moment.

Sam pulled her into his arms and looked her in the eyes. "Jessi, listen to me it's going to be ok, I promise. Nathan is fine, ok? He is strong." Jessica looked away from him, not wanting him to see the fear in her eyes. He grabbed her chin gently and turned her face back towards his. "We will wait until morning, ok. The storm should have passed by then."

Some of the tension left her body, she felt better knowing she wouldn't have to fight to keep him in the relative safety of the cave. Sam felt her body relax and pulled her into his chest. As much as he wanted to run off and start searching for the treasure now, he knew she was right. They wouldn't accomplish anything by going out there in the storm, they might even get themselves killed.

Less than thirty minutes later Sam had built a small fire in their cave. It was far enough away from the shore that he wasn't worried about any of Rafe's guys spotting it. They were both freezing from their dip in the ocean and he knew the fire would do them both good.

Both Jessica and Sam had stripped down to their underwear and had their clothes laid out by the fire. Neither of them liked the idea of lingering in their wet, cold clothes. As Jessica bent over to lay her shirt down Sam whistled. He was sitting on a flat rock next to the wall.

She stood up and cocked an eyebrow at him, leave it to Sam to hit on her in a moment like this. "Do it a little slower next time." There was a hint of mischief shining in his eyes. He made have said it in a joking tone, but she could see the "evidence" of his arousal through the thin material of his boxers. This was no time to be messing around, but it was also the perfect time. They were stuck in the cave and they both needed the distraction. Even if she wanted to she couldn't have made any other decision in that moment. The teasing look in Sam's eyes had turned to lust, and she could feel it coming off him in waves. A shiver went down her spine and she slowly reached up and pulled her bra off. She made a show of dropping it by the fire. "Was that slow enough for you?"

When Sam woke up the next morning Jessica was in his arms. The sun was shining into the cave, and a beam had fallen across her face and chest. He couldn't believe he had found her again. When he was in prison he truly thought he would never see her again. The light had caught the ring hanging from her necklace. That's was another thing he couldn't believe, she had kept the ring all this time. If he had the rest of his life, he could never explain the way he had felt when he first saw that ring hanging from her neck. It meant he still had a chance, he would make things right this time.

His movement must have disturbed her because she turned in her sleep and murmured his name. God, it was lucky they had put their clothes back on last night before letting sleep claim them, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to resist continuing their play from the night before. With her head turned into his chest like that she looked like an angel, a dark angel who could kill you 100 times over but an angel nonetheless. He made a promise to himself that he would never let anything separate them again.

Jessica woke up feeing warm and safe, she realized she was still in Sam's arms. Then she had a weird feeling she was being watched, she cracked one eye open and sure enough Sam was staring down at her. "God Sam, could you try being a little less weird? Jeez I just woke up."

Sam laughed at her, "Good morning to you too beautiful." He planted a quick kiss on her lips and then jumped up. Jessica got up as well, after stretching out her aching limbs she followed Sam out of the cave. Judging by the height of the sun, she guessed it was somewhere around 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning. Sam clapped his hands, "Alright let's go find my little brother shall we?"

Jessica groaned. How could he be so full of energy this early? She didn't remember him being such a morning person before.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The storm had passed over them finally. The sky was cloudy but the rain was gone, and sunlight would burst the clouds periodically. It was chilly but not overly so, she assumed it was because of the mist that was still hanging over the island in the early morning. Jessica stood looking out at the water, the sea was calm and she saw no sign of Shoreline yet. There was no doubt they were here though. They needed to find Nathan and quick.

Sam had come up with the idea to signal him with his flashlight. Even with the cloud coverage it would be visible if the person knew what to look for. So she and Sam had made their way up the side of the ominous mountain, hoping Nathan was in a position to see their signal. Jessica paced back and forth nervously while Sam sent out the signal in Morse code. He signaled the words Sic Magnus Parva, then waited five minutes and signaled again. Jessica was anxious when Nathan didn't return the signal after the third try. Nathan had always been a strong swimmer and he had hit the water first, so chances were he had made it to the shore before they did. Especially since Sam had to half drag her through the water.

Then it happened, after the fourth try, they gave up. He must not be able to see them from where he was. The other option was that he had seen the message and had been unable to signal back. Maybe he was headed this way already. So they decided to head down the mountain and go in search of him. Surely Nathan would make his way here eventually, I mean the mountain looked like a monstrous head, teeth included.

Sam slipped his light back into his belt and stood up. "Come on little brother, don't let me down." He whispered. They were both operating under the belief that Nathan was ok, but it was hard to ignore that little hint of doubt.

They passed the next twenty minutes or so in relative silence. The sun had begun to come out more and the temperature had shot up. Jessica stopped to wipe some sweat off her forehead. They were standing on a ledge that faced out towards the sea. She looked longingly at the water which she knew would be oh so refreshing at the moment. "That water is looking pretty good right about now." She stated.

Sam turned to her, "Yes it is. Makes you wish we didn't have an army on our tails so we could stop to enjoy ourselves."

Jessica looked at him impishly, "Oh I don't know, I enjoyed myself quite a bit last night. You know after the threat of drowning and being shot had passed." Sam laughed, the sound coming deep from his throat. He pulled her into his arms and laid and quick but passionate kiss on her lips. Then he looked past her shoulder and his expression turned dark. "Well, it looks like things are about to get a lot more exciting."

She followed his gaze and saw the fleet of Shoreline ships headed right for them. A figure was just barely visible standing at the front of the largest ship, whoever it was appeared to be holding binoculars. Jessica would bet money on the person being Rafe. "Fucking Rafe, I know it was a long shot but I was really hoping that his ship might have gone down in the storm.

"You really do hate him don't you? And not just because he is trying to kill us." Sam asked out of curiosity. Jessica gave an exaggerated sigh, "Look Sam its complicated ok? I don't want to talk about

Jessica picked up her pace, wanting the conversation to be over with. She didn't like the memories it was bringing back. Sam had no idea what Rafe had been like after he got back from Panama. Rafe had always been "overly-friendly" towards her but he had become outright aggressive after Sam's supposed death. Jessica was not vain enough to believe it had anything to do with her looks. No, she knew Rafe had persisted because he was a spoiled child not used to being told no.

Sam walked up beside her and nudged her shoulder. Jessica rolled her eyes before looking at him. "What?" she asked annoyed. "So how you your other adventures stack up to this one?" He asked.

Despite her irritation she laughed, "I don't know Sam, are we talking about solo ones or ones involving Nathan?" He shrugged his shoulders, "Both I guess."

"Well the solo ones usually involve a lot less shooting and near death experiences. But this seems right on track for ones involving Nathan." He laughed again, "Oh C'mon, they can't all be that bad."

"You think? Ok, three words for you. Zombies, Cursed statue, Pirates."

Sam scoffed, "I call bullshit." Jessica gave him a deadpan stare. "What, Your serious?"

"I never joke about zombies Sam." She stated.

"Wow…yeah I'm going to need to hear more of that story after this is over." Sam stated.

They heard some voices nearby and stopped in their tracks. It sounded like a handful of men were just around the corner. Sam pushed her back and put his body in front of hers. He poked his head around the corner to check it out. "Shoreline, looks like seven or eight of them. Can't say how many others are nearby though."

Jessica cursed, "well this blows, neither of us even have guns. All I have is my knife."

"We will have to just borrow guns off of our shoreline friends then." Sam smirked. Jessica gave him a mischievous grin, "Divide and conquer?" Sam nodded his head in agreement before slipping off through the tall grass. Jessica went high as Sam went low. She scaled the side of the rock formation they had been hiding behind. When she reached the top which wasn't very far up only about ten feet. She laid flat and scouted out their surroundings, Sam had been right about the number of men. She counted eight spread out in front of them. From the little bits of conversations, she picked up, she gathered there were multiple other units nearby. Well, that made things significantly more difficult.

One of the soldiers was approaching the area below her, she waited patiently for him to be in the perfect position. Then she leapt down, careful to ensure no one else saw her. She took him out quietly and dragged his body into the tall grass. She took his gun and the grenade he had attached to his belt. She was sure in would come in handy later.

Sam was in a similar position to her, he had just relieved a dead soldier of his weapons and was on the prowl. They were able to take out two more before they were spotted. They remaining soldiers closed ranks and opened fire. They exchanged gun fire and the noise alerted one of the other units nearby to their presence. Sam and Jessica took out as many as they could, but they ended up having to make a run for it. The soldiers were hot on their tails but they managed to escape them after a few minutes. It was a good thing the men weren't very good climbers. The eluded them by turning a corner and quickly climbing up a rock face under a waterfall. The couple sat on the edge, their feet hanging over it.

"That was fun." Jessica said sarcastically. "Tell me about it." Was Sam's response. They sat there for a little while, to catch their breath and make sure the soldiers had all moved on. The two jerked to attention when they heard gunfire in the distance. This time it wasn't directed at them, so it could only be one other person. "Nathan!" They both said in unison. They quickly climbed back down and went in search of the lost member of their trio. They went as stealthily as they could through the jungle in the direction of the gunfire. Until the gunfire stopped. Jessica hoped that was a good sign and not a bad one. They were nearing a corner when they heard footsteps and heavy breathing on the other side.

They locked eyes and nodded their heads before jumping out simultaneously, guns at the ready. Jessica was ready to fire when she saw the familiar face. "Shit! I nearly shot your head off!" Sam exclaimed. Nathan was breathing heavily as he lowered his gun. "Sam, Jess…you're ok." He spoke the words as if a weight had been lifted off his chest. "Good to see your alive little brother." Sam said.

Jessica pushed Sam out of the way and ran for Nathan, nearly knocking him over. She locked him into a fierce hug. "Jess, relax. I'm fine, see only a few scratches." Jessica pulled back and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "That's for making me worry."

Sam stepped in, "Alright, leave the poor kid alone. It's not his fault our boat got blown up." "Well, actually he was the one driving." Jessica teased. "Oh really, well I would like to have seen you do better." Nathan defended.

"All right children that's enough." Sam interceded. "C'mon. We've got a treasure to find." He said excitedly.

Nathan took a seat on a boulder still trying to catch his breath, "Hold up, man, I mean…What are we doing?" He asked.

Sam looked confused. "What do you mean?" Nathan shook his head. "I mean our supplies are at the bottom of the Indian ocean."

"Okay, so we go steal some from Nadine's men." Sam said like it was a no brainer. "Yeah, and there's that. We are going up against an army!" Nathan answered raising his voice a little as he tried to get through to his brother. Sam was beginning to get irritated as well, "Well, we've been holding our own so far!"

"Yeah, and now we are marooned in the middle of nowhere!" Nathan shot back. "We were trying to get here, remember?" Sam said heatedly.

Jessica finally cut in. "That was when we had an escape plan. Look, why don't we at least go down to the beach and secure one of Rafe's boats?" She suggested.

Sam looked at her, "The boats can wait." He said slowly as if he were talking to a child. Then he took a few steps back. "You guys want to know what we are doing here? We are buying my life back! Ok? And we are going to do that by going into that jungle and finding Libertalia."

"Sam, we don't even know if Libertalia is out there." Jessica countered.

"Have you even seen any signs of a massive pirate colony out there? Cause I sure as hell haven't." Nathan asked.

"It's a little late to start doubting know isn't it?" Sam argued.

Nathan wasn't having it, he stood up "Can we at east acknowledge that its possible Avery's plan for the colony didn't actually pan out?"

"Nathan is right Sam. Maybe we should be looking for a real way to save you." Jessica said softly as she laid her hand on Sam's shoulder. Sam stepped away from her, "I'm going to scour this island inch by inch if I have to… until I find that treasure." He looked back and forth between the two of them. "Now, if your confused about what you're doing here…then you can go home."

Jessica breathed in sharply then exhaled through her teeth, the sound coming out like a hiss. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, so many things she wanted to call him. Nathan beat her to it though. "We can go home? Are you kidding me! Do you have any idea what I have put on the line to get you here?" He said angrily.

"How about what I put on the line? Okay, the last ten years of my life! I lost everything." Sam expressed just as angrily.

"Oh come on, this has nothing to do with that!" Nathan shot back.

Sam scoffed, "It has everything to do with that!"

Nathan stopped his gaze falling to the wall behind Sam. "What?" Sam and Jessica said at the same time. Nathan didn't answer he simply walked over to the wall and pulled back some vines, exposing Avery's sigil carved into the wall. "Holy crap…" Nathan said softly. The three of them stood in awe their argument quickly forgotten. "You still want to go home?" Sam asked.

"Let's just see what else we can find." Was Nathans response. Sam looked to Jessica. "What about you?" She cocked an eyebrow at him, "Elena would kill me if I didn't come back with Nathan." Then she walked past him into the jungle.

No less than half an hour later they were standing in the ruins of an old building looking out over a huge city. "What do you see?" Sam asked. "No houses, wide streets…clearly a commercial district of some kind." Nathan answered in a clinical way. Sam laughed, "Yes Thank you for that Nathan, now what do you SEE?"

"You really want to hear me say it don't you?"

"I really want to hear you say it." He smirked. Nathan chuckled, "Alright, Libertalia."

"Libertalia! The long lost, legendary pirate utopia!" Sam exclaimed. "Discovered after hundreds of years by one Samuel Drake."

Nathan scoffed, so Sam added. "And his younger slightly less charming, younger brother, who happened to be along for the ride."

Jessica cleared her throat, unhappy to not be given any credit. Sam smirked at her and took her hand in his, "and the beautiful, perfect woman, who has always stood by his side." He said then placed a kiss on the back of her hand while smirking at her. Jessica couldn't help but laugh at his statement. "You are so full of shit Sam Drake."

Sam pulled back still smirking, "Yeah, but you love me anyway…so where do you guys want to start?"

"How about that building over there?" Nathan said pointing at the largest building. "You mean the one with the massive guard tower?" Jessica asked dryly. "Well, lets go see what its guarding." Sam said before jumping down to the landing below them. They didn't get very far before finding more shoreline soldiers. This time there were about fifteen of them.

Jessica sighed, could they not go an hour without running into these guys? This was a pretty big island, why were they constantly tripping over them? "Let's take them out quickly and quietly." Nathan ordered taking control of the situation as usual. Jessica have him a mock salute, "Yes, Sir!" she said before jumping down to the landing below them. Sam followed suit, and Nathan jumped across the gap to the next building.

She was hiding in one of the many buildings that were falling apart around them. A soldier was making his way towards her position from the outside. The instant he stepped close enough, she grabbed him, pulling him backwards through the window. He struggled and tried to call out for help, but she held her hand firmly over his mouth. "Shh," she whispered, then she ran her blade across his throat and didn't not loosen her grip until he had stopped fighting. Then she left him to bleed out, alone.

Jessica quietly dispatched three more by sneaking around and waiting for the right moments. Sam was not too far off and seemed to be sticking near her. He kept her in his line of sight, which she knew was intentional. She counted about six men left, which was not bad considering there were only three of them. The soldiers had noticed they were missing me, and had even found a few of the bodies. The remaining six were spread out now and highly alert, sneak attacks would be much harder at this point.

She was startled as a soldier started firing at her position…no wait. They were firing at someone above her. She turned her head to the left and sure enough Sam was still in the last spot she had seen him. He was about twenty yards away on the second floor of a different building, looking at the spot above her where the soldiers were firing, and he was shaking his head. Jessica groaned, of course it was Nathan. It was always Nathan, she had said it a million times before and she would say it again, the man was a jinx. Sure he always landed right side up, but that was after hitting everything possible on the way down.

As if he had been summoned, Nathan popped up behind her. "Oh hey, I didn't know you were down here!" He said as surprised to see her as she had been to see him. "Yeah? Well neither did they until you showed up." Jessica exclaimed while pointing to the advancing soldiers who were still firing on them, and yes it was "them" now. The men had definitely spotted her as well. "Oh…sorry?" Nathan said even though they both knew he was not the least bit sorry. Then the man dashed off, half of the men chased after him, but the last three had her circled. She groaned, how did she always get into these situations?

While her hiding spot had been great for sneak attacks with all of the tall grass, it wasn't very defendable. She dropped down and rolled, coming up in a crouch three feet away and taking out the man closest to her. Unfortunately, she had lost sight of one of the other men. She stiffened when she heard footsteps behind her but it was too late. The second man had snuck up behind her and now had her in a tight chokehold. The first was approaching her from the front looking very pleased with himself. "Hey, Jake, loosen up a little. Adler said to take this one alive if we could." He pulled out some rope, which she presumed he was planning on using to tie her up. Jessica sneered at him. She had stopped fighting "Jakes" hold and he had loosened his grip some. It couldn't hurt to have him think she was complacent. When the first man stepped within reach she lifted up and kicked him back with all the force she could muster while in a stranglehold, then used that momentum to propel herself back, head butting the man holding her." He dropped her while cursing violently. It looked like she had busted his nose. She quickly aimed her pistol and fired two rounds into the first man's skull. Then she turned to take out the second, only to see him drop to the ground, his eyes lifeless.

Sam was behind the man, "Are you ok, Jess?" he asked.

"Yeah, Yeah, I'm fine," She replied waving him off. The gunfire had stopped so she guessed that Nathan had taken care of his three. Then he came strutting over, confirming her thoughts. "You know I could have handled it myself Sam, I didn't need you to save me." She said matter of factly. He holstered his gun, "Yeah, I know, but why should you have to?" He said just as calmly, not taking the bait.

Jessica thought about it, and he was right. She hated when that happened.

"I think that's all of them." Sam stated. Nathan nodded in agreement, "Grab any ammo that you can, that won't be the last of them." He added. "So you think they're looking for us or the treasure?" Sam asked.

Jessica scoffed, "Well its Rafe…so probably both." As they were continuing to make their way through the city, they overheard more voices. "We cannot catch a break can we?" She said annoyed. "Shit, they have snipers. I count at least three." Sam said.

"Hey, Jessi. Check it out" Nathan pointed. Jessica sent a silent thank you to whichever asshole had been dumb enough to leave it lying around, and crept over to the sniper rifle resting on a crate. She picked it up and tested the weight, then she counted the rounds left. Only five, but it would do. Nathan smirked at her, "You think you could take a few out with that?" He asked.

"They might as well have tied a little red bow around it." She answered sarcastically. Sam turned to Nathan confused as if looking for answers. Nathan held his hand out as if to say, just watch.

Jessica took up position behind the crate and looked down the sight. She got the first one in her sight then inhaled deeply, she steadied the gun then fired exhaling after she pulled the trigger. Her shot found its mark right in the man's head. The next few minutes followed quickly and she took out the other two snipers, her last two shots missed. She had leveled the playing field some so it wasn't all bad. Between her Sam and Nathan, they easily took out the remaining few.

"Do you see anymore? Or are we clear?" Nathan asked. "I think we are clear." Jessica responded. Sam looked between the two of them, "What the hell was that?"

"What?" They both said in unison. "That! The shooting? Since when are you such a good shot?" Sam asked incredulously.

"I wouldn't call missing two out of five shots good, but whatever." Nathan teased. Jessica flipped him off. "Like I said, I prefer to handle my jobs with a little more finesse. In other words, when I have to kill someone, I do so in a way that doesn't alert every enemy in the area." She said looking pointedly at Nathan. He smirked at her never one to let an insult go without returning one. "I like to think of her vengeful shadow of the night, a lone assassin on the prowl, a warrior of the ni-."

Jessica rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Nathan I swear to god…I will kick you off that cliff if you don't shut the hell up!"

"Vengeful Shadow hmm? I think I like that one." Sam declared with a laugh. Jessica sighed loudly. "Can we just keep moving?"

Later they were standing in the courtyard of the treasury. She looked around shocked and somewhat perturbed by what she was seeing. "Well, looks like we found the missing colonists." Nathan commented. "Well, some of them anyway." Sam added.

The courtyard had dozens of corpses spread around it, some were impaled on pikes, others looked like they had fallen where they stood. What was odd is it looked like they had fashioned crude barricades. Who were they fighting?

"What the hell happened here?" Nathan asked, obviously wondering the same thing. "Some kind of battle. The real question is who was fighting who?" Sam answered.

Jessica was bent down over one of the dead men, "Some of these guys look like soldiers." Nathan joined her and took a closer look at the dead man. "So it was the colonists fighting the soldiers." He mused. "Well, if that's the treasury up there…"

"Looks like somebody was trying to make a withdrawal." Sam joked.

"Well, let's hope they didn't succeed." Nathan said seriously.

The trio continued up the stairs, the passed through a long hallway that was lined with massive statues. The detail that had gone into making this place was amazing. How had they built all of this without attracting attention? It's true they were pretty far from society, but these materials had to have come from somewhere.

Nathan pulled the lever that was meant to open the doors to the treasury. It jammed and the brothers had to force it open. Finally, the doors swung open to reveal the vault… and it was empty. The place looked like it had been ransacked. Shelves were on the floor, broken apart. There were paintings on the ground that had been ripped up. They were too late, by the looks of it they were hundreds of years too late. There was a layer of dust covering everything.

"It's empty." Sam said stating the obvious. "Of course it is." Jessica added with a sigh. "You think Rafe?" He asked.

Nathan ran his fingertips over a piece of furniture. "No. Nothing's been touched in here for hundreds of years."

Never one to give up Sam nodded in agreement, "Well…Search for clues?"

"Yeah, Search for clues." Nathan answered.

Jessica groaned, could nothing be easy for them? Just once on this trip, she would like something to go their way. The place was in shambles, but if anything could find something in this mess it was Nathan.


	10. Chapter 10, Thieves of Libertalia

Chapter 10

Have you ever had one of those moments? You know one those moments that seem inconsequential until you look back on them. A moment that changes your life forever, and you don't realize it until years later? What if one single thing that day had of been different? That moment may never have happened.

Jessica thought about that a lot. Her moment had been the night that she had met Nathan and Sam. If her dad hadn't knocked her around that day, and as a result broken her CD player. She never would have gone to the store that night to replace it. As a matter of fact, if her drunkard of a father had left the house even a few minutes later that night, she might have missed them. If he had left any earlier she might have gotten to the store ahead of the guys and left before they showed up. She thinks that what they call the butterfly effect.

If anything had been different that night she might never have met them at all. After Panama she often thought about what her life would be like if she hadn't met them. On one hand she wouldn't have known the pain of losing someone you love and having your heart broken as a result. But at the same time she wouldn't have what it was like to be loved either. It sounded cliché, but it was true.

Her parents had never loved her, hell they had never really loved anything. Except for her mother of course, her love affair with drugs, had literally killed her. Nathan and Sam had shown her that is was possible to care about someone else more than you cared about yourself. Hell without them, she probably would have ended up exactly like her mother. She had never even thought it was possible for her to have anything better until they showed up. She certainly never imagined that, that chance meeting would lead her to here.

Jessica did a spin taking in everything around the room. She was in the treasury of a lost pirate colony that had been hidden from the world for hundreds of years. She laughed softly, never in a million years would she ever have thought she would end up here.

She took a closer look at one of the paintings that had been ripped of the wall. It had the word thief carved into it. Hmm, that was ironic. I mean weren't they all thief's? Actually all of the paintings had been marked with the word thief. Sam and Nathan had noticed it as well and were talking over what that could mean.

Jessica was trying to make sense of it all. This mystery was turning into an even bigger mystery. First it was just treasure, then it was a lost colony, now they know both existed but the treasure was missing? She was starting to have a hard time keeping up.

"So wait…where are we supposed to go from here? They could have taken the treasure anywhere." She said expressing her concerns.

"Huh." Sam said softly. He was staring at the ceiling like it held some deep secret. "What?" Nathan asked. "I know where they moved it." He answered.

"What! Where!" Jessica asked confused. How had he figured it out that quickly? He pointed up at the ceiling. "It's a map of Libertalia…" Nathan said the wheels in head beginning to turn. "And look on the other side of the map."

"New Devon. All of the houses have sigils over them. That must be where the founders lived." Nathan said finally putting the pieces together. "So, Whaddya say we find a way up that watch tower over there, and get our bearings."

"New Devon here we come." Sam said fist pumping. Jessica had to laugh at their excitement, sure she wasn't happy that they had hit yet another snag. But Sam's energy was contagious, it was one of the things she loved about him. He wasn't exactly an optimist but he was usually able to find the good in something. She had always felt like that had been more for Nathan's benefit than his. He was the older one and there for he had to be the strong one.

Jessica was the last one up to the top of the tower. The brothers had kept her in between them for most of the climb but at that final stretch their excitement had overshadowed everything else. "Wooo, well that was invigorating!" She said out of breath. There had been a few times where she had actually been a little afraid. She had been on taller buildings and mountains. But there was something nerve wracking about climbing a centuries old building that was crumbling apart.

She walked over to stand beside Sam near the railing. "There it is, New Devon." Nathan said mesmerized by the sight. They were looking at the home of the most notorious pirates to ever sail the seas. It was mindblowing.

The view itself was breathtaking, if she blocked out everything else that was going on around them, like Rafe and the treasure hunt, and the fact that a drug lord wanted Sam's head, it really was paradise. She closed her eyes just wanting to feel the sun on her face, and hear the sounds of the jungle around her. This was one of those moments that she knew she would never forget. "What are you thinking about?" Sam asked her. Nathan was still overwhelmed by their discovery and wasn't paying any attention to them.

"Nothing, it's just…Did you ever think we would end up here?" She replied thinking back to everything they had been through. All those times they slept in Sam's car. All those times they had been pinched for stealing. All the enemies they had made over the years. It still amazed her they had made it out alive. Yet here they were.

Sam gave her his cockiest smile. "Of course! I never doubted myself. You two maybe, but never myself." Jessica smiled in spite of herself he could be such a prick sometimes. "Ok, ok. Truthfully? All those years in prison…I really thought I would never see daylight again, and now I'm here, with you two. And the treasure is finally within our grasp."

Jessica grimaced, why had she even asked that. Sometimes she could be so stupid, never thinking before she spoke. She kept finding herself slipping back into their old routine, whenever they were having a peaceful moment like this, it was easy to forget the last ten years had ever happened. Why did she have to go and remind him of that time, and the literal axe hanging over his head.

"I'm sorry Sam I didn't mean to bring that up. I know it must have been hard on you and with everything going on with Alcazar…I can only imagine." She said shaking her head.

"Hey, Hey, don't you worry your pretty little head about it. No harm done, it will all work out. We just have to get that treasure." He said focusing his sight back on the prize.

"Yeah…I know. We have your back, no matter what happens here, we will find a way to deal with Alcazar." Jessica placed her hand on his chest in an intimate gesture. The look in her eyes was so sincere that Sam had to look away.

Nathan clapped his hands, "Well, what do you say we go rob from the rich, huh?"

Jessica cheered, "Let's do it!" She was finally getting excited, they actually had proof now that the treasure existed and that it had been here at some point. With any luck the pirate captains hadn't managed to escape with it. And if she were being completely honest with herself, she was eager to see New Devon. What kind of home would a filthy rich pirate build for themselves? Or better question how would they have decorated it? She was imaging the Jolly Roger on everything. Now they just had to climb back down the impossibly tall and structurally unsound tower.

Jessica insisted on going last in case she lost her footing or slipped. She wanted to know there was someone below her to catch her. As they were climbing down Sam asked Nate, "So how long do you think it will take us to get to New Devon?"

"Ehh, Couple hours maybe, it depends on who or what we run into." Nathan replied.

BOOM! An explosion rocked the building and a chunk of the veranda Sam had just jumped off of was blown away. "Holy fuck!" She screamed.

"Shit! RPG!" Sam yelled. "You alright?" Nathan shouted over the noise. Jessica watched in horror as the railing he was climbing down came loose. At that moment a massive piece of debris fell down, passing perilously close to her position. Nathan screamed at his "Sam move!" The hunk crashed into the platform Sam had been standing on seconds earlier. "Shit!" She heard him yell out.

Another RPG hurtled towards them and blew away a section of the building above them. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" She cursed loudly. This was not good, so not good. She climbed faster than she thought possible down to where Sam and Nathan where. The entire way dodging the falling rubble. "What the hell is it with these guys and explosives?" She shouted. She ran down the stairs swiftly. Another explosion hit and a massive section of the roof caved in. It plunged down t through the center of the building. It took out part of the staircase she was standing on and she fell two floors down. By some stroke of luck, she was able to grab onto a broken section of flooring, and stop her downward plummet. Her heart was pounding but she pulled herself up and looked around to get her bearings. Sam had jumped down to the level she was on and was waving her towards him, Nathan was still a few floors up.

The next explosion that hit slammed into the wall behind Nathan and sent him flying across the room. He slammed into the opposite wall and slid down the two floors before landing a few feet from them. "Nathan!" She cried out. Sam motioned for her to keep going. He ran to Nathan and grabbed his arm to help him up. "Come on little brother we have to go!" He hurried him. "Now!"

The building shook as another RPG hit it. This time the building had had enough. It began falling apart. The top half which they were still standing in, broke off and fell. They went sliding with it. Jessica grasped wildly trying to find something to stop her fall. The section that had broken off fell so that the very top was resting on a nearby building. It was holding for the moment. Jessica and Sam had somehow managed to jump across and were hanging from a section of the crumbling wall. She looked around for Nathan and saw him hanging from his grappling hook. Shoreline soldiers were firing at him from the other side of the chasm, and she noticed, they were still firing their fucking RPG's at them. Overkill much? They had already taken out half of the building.

"Nathan! Up here! Climb up the rope!" Sam shouted down at Nathan as she and him made their way up the wall. They made a mad dash across the walkway the tower had made to the other building. The entire time chunks of it were falling away. Jessica was beginning to hyperventilate. There was no way they were going to make it! The sound of her heartbeat was assaulting her ears. It blocked out almost everything else, she could barely hear herself screaming expletives at the shoreline mercs or Sam hollering at them to keep going.

They were almost to the other side when the tower finally gave out. Sam was ahead of them and made the jump easily enough. Jessica and Nathan were both further back and had farther to jump. Nathan just barely reached the other side, he was hanging from one hand on the side of the building. Jessica was not as lucky, being at least half a foot shorter than either of them her reach was not as long. She screamed hoarsely as she grabbed nothing but air, she closed her eyes in anticipation of the fall. She heard Nathan shout her name "Jess!" Then she felt his free hand lock around her wrist. Nathan lifted her up so that she could reach Sam who was leaning over the edge to pull her up. "It's alright Jess, we've got you. You're alright." Sam said to her.

Just as Nathan had pulled himself up, Shoreline soldiers had appeared on a ledge to the their left and were lighting the place up with gunfire. They had no choice but to run, they were too exposed and there were too many soldiers. They ran for cover and had to force their way through the next set of doors. Someone threw a grenade and sent Nathan flying, he had made it to safety but she and Sam were now separated from him.

The two of them ran across the walkway to the next building where Nathan had ended up. They encountered a group of soldiers who opened fire on them. Jessica pulled out her pistol and returned fire on them, she and Sam took out most of the first group but then more showed up. They had taken cover in one of the rooms behind a sturdy table. The sound of fighting came up from below them. It seemed like Nathan was in trouble. "Go ahead!" Jessica shouted to Sam, "I can handle these guys. Nathan needs help."

Sam nodded at her for once not arguing. "Be careful!" he ordered before disappearing through a hole in the floor and dropping down to the next level where Nathan was. Jessica took out as many soldiers as she could but she was out of ammo, and she couldn't hear fighting anything below her anymore. She tossed her gun to the side and dropped down through the hole. There was no sign of anyone, but part of the floor had caved in. She followed the path of destruction to find Sam, Nathan, and Nadine on a Cliffside.

A gun was nearby, it was a tossup of whose weapon it actually was but all three rushed for it. Jessica jumped down to join them, prepared to attack Nadine from behind if necessary. Sam reached the gun first, and pointed it at Nadine. Jessica sighed in relief/ She reached out a hand to help Nathan up, who still hadn't gotten up from where he had fallen. He seemed to be in a lot of pain and was holding his side. She couldn't see any blood, so she figured it couldn't be that bad.

"Sam c'mon. Forget about her, we have to get out of here!" Nathan urged his brother. Sam took a step closer to Nadine not lowering the weapon. "Sam! What are you doing we have to go before-," She was cut off by Rafe and two heavily armed shoreline men showing up.

"Shit!" Sam exclaimed. Without thinking he grabbed Nadine and pulled her towards him, using her body as a shield, and put the gun to her head.

"Sam!" Jessica cried out, surprised by his actions. If he pulled that trigger on her, they were all dead. Nathan held up both hands, "everybody just… just calm down, ok?"

Jessica stood warily to the side, she kept her eyes on Rafe and his men not trusting them to start shooting anyway.

Rafe chuckled a little, "Well this is interesting. Nate-" His gaze turned to her and stopped long enough to make her feel dirty and then he winked at her. She felt that cold rage coming back.

"-Jessica…Samuel." He continued.

Sam shouted, "Put your guns downs!" He was shifting uneasily from side to side. "No." Rafe responded. "Rafe! This guy is on edge." Nadine said anxiously. "Oh, don't worry about him Nadine. These guys don't kill anybody in cold blood. It's just not their style."

Sam pushed the gun harder into her temple, "You willing to bet her life on that?"

Rafe dared him, "Go ahead then. Shoot her!"

Jessica took a step closer to him, intending to try and calm him. "If I die you all die!" Nadine declared angrily. "So be it!" Sam exclaimed. Rafe took another step and Sam yelled at him not to come closer. There was a look in his eyes that she had never seen before. She wanted to believe that Rafe was right and that Sam wouldn't pull the trigger…but she wasn't so sure. Rafe took another step closer, Sam tightened his grip threateningly and Jessica felt her heart stop. He was going to do it, and he was going to get them all killed. Nathan yelled for him to put the gun down. "I warned you." Sam said calmly.

Nathan lunged forward towards his brother shoving the gun away at the last second right as Sam pulled the trigger. Nadine threw herself away from them and ran to the side out of the line of fire. Nathan wrestled with his brother to get the gun from him and then held it over his head in surrender.

"Hold your fire! Don't shoot!" Rafe ordered his men. "Put the gun down." He said. Nathan complied and threw the gun at Rafe's feet. "Well, I didn't think he had it in him." Rafe said referring to Sam actually pulling the trigger on Nadine. He slowly strutted over to them and stopped in front of Sam. He pretended to brush some dirt off of Sam's shoulder. "How are you Sam? Hmm? You must have known this day was coming." He pulled back and pistoled whipped Sam with all the force he could muster. "Hey!" Nathan hollered at Rafe.

"Shit Rafe!" Jessica yelled as she dropped to her knees to help Sam. He was groaning and holding his nose. A cut had formed along the bridge and she would bet money on it being broken. Sam struggled to sit up. "Sam? Sam? Are you ok?" She asked worriedly. He was able to force a small nod to let her know he was. Jessica glared at Rafe who was still holding the gun on them.

"C'mon man. You already got us just take it easy." Nathan asked. "You're a business man, let's just work out a deal."

Sam seemed to be ok so she got back to her feet and stood next to Nathan. She didn't like being any more vulnerable to Rafe than she had to and he was already holding a gun in her direction.

Rafe lowered his gun and approached Nathan, "Oh a deal? I'd love to hear what you have in mind." He said in a sarcastic tone. The he lunged forward quickly and kicked a still struggling Sam in the head knocking him back to the ground.

"Ok, you can go ahead. I'm listening." Rafe finally said. Nathan reached to pull Sam up this time. "Alright, you want to find Avery's treasure? We'll help you find it." Nathan stated.

Jessica was standing behind Sam trying to help him keep his balance, he was clutching his head and swaying a little. She had taken quite a few blows to the head over the years and knew had bad he had to be hurting at the moment. Hell she was surprised he had gotten to his feet even with help. Two blows like that, back to back, likely would have knocked her unconscious.

"And in exchange, I let you live?" Rafe guessed.

"yeah." Nathan confirmed. "That…and a small cut…"

Rafe laughed as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Jessica had to admit it sounded ridiculous, they had no leverage here. But still, they had to try.

"Just enough to get him his freedom, okay?" Nathan tried to explain.

Rafe looked confused, "His freedom?"

Sam pulled away from her and reached towards Nathan, "Nathan…"

Nathan held his hand up to silence Sam. Jessica noticed how Sam lowered his eyes to the ground. "He did hard time, our time." Nathan continued, "The guy who broke him out, Hector Alcazar. He owes him a lot of money."

Rafe shook his head in disbelief. "Whoa. What the hell are you talking about Nate? Hector Alcazar died in a shootout in Argentina like six months ago. I'm the one who got Samuel out." He explained.

Jessica froze, what was he saying? She was so confused. Sam…had lied to them? She took a step back, why would he do something like this? Her ears were ringing as she tried to make sense of things.

"Wow. What did he tell you?" Rafe asked. He seemed to be enjoying the moment far too much for Jessica's liking. Sam still couldn't meet hers or Nathans gaze. "Sam? What kind of stories have you been telling them? Alcazar? Really? You lied? To your baby brother? And the woman you love?" He laughed again.

Rafe sighed loudly, "The thing is Nate, I never stopped looking for Avery's treasure. I just kept running into these dead ends. And then I hear, that our dear old Samuel Drake, is alive, and well. There was no breakout. I bribed the prison warden, and Sam just waltzed right out the front gate. He spent the last two years tracking down the second St Dismas cross. And you know what? He did it all with me."

"No," Nathan denied. "No, that's bullshit."

"Sam? Care to refute." Rafe asked.

Jessica wanted to scream and rage. She wanted to cry and hit Sam until he denied it. This couldn't be right. Two years? He had been out for two years? And nothing not a single phone call or letter to let them know he was alive. And he had been with Rafe the whole time? Why would he do something like this? She slowly walked away from him to stand next to Nathan.

Nathan couldn't believe it though, "Sam?" He asked begging his brother to deny the claims laid against him. Sam looked at them, pain was evident in his eyes, but guilt, guilt was forefront. "Nathan…" Was all Sam was able to say.

"Ah, Jesus, no, no…" Nathan muttered taking another step back.

"Listen, Avery's treasure was ours…it was always ours." Sam grabbed Nathans shoulders in an attempt to get through to him. Nathan shoved him back violently. "No! I left my life for you!" Nathan yelled back. Sam turned to her hoping to find a sympathetic face, "Jess…"

She was so close to breaking down, but she refused to let Rafe and three other complete strangers see her like that. "I can't believe you did this Sam…" She shook her head then laughed ironically, "Some things never change…you never change" She said the last words under her breath so as only Sam could hear her.

Rafe was really enjoying their pain and laughed loudly, "Hey, look you two, if it's any consolation, he duped me too. He pulled a Houdini on me…brought you two, and that old man back into the mix. And I cannot lie, Sam, that really, pissed me off. But you know, it's all behind us now." Rafe finished his speech with a shrug of his shoulders.

Sam faced him, "You don't deserve it." He accused.

"And you do? Last I checked we were all a bunch of thieves… Digging around where we shouldn't."

Nadine stepped forward, "Rafe. One way or another, end it. Or I will." She threatened.

"Well, you heard the lady." Rafe pointed his gun at Sam's head.

"Rafe. You miss one clue and you can kiss that treasure goodbye!" Nathan argued, trying to buy them time. "You said it yourself, you keep running into dead ends. Why don't you face it Rafe you need us?"

Rafe lowered his gun, "You're right…Well, you're half right. I just need Sam." Then he pointed his gun at Nathan. Jessica cried out on alarm, "Rafe, please!" She begged.

Nathan backed up worriedly. "Rafe, Don't! Rafe don't…Listen-," Sam tried to reason with him. Rafe pulled the trigger and Sam jumped in front of Nathan to block him from Rafe. The bullet hit Sam in the shoulder and knocked him backwards into Nathan, which sent Nathan off the cliff into the river below. Jessica ran to the edge and watched in shock as Nathan slammed into side of the cliff as he went down.

Sam was yelling at Rafe, but she could barely hear them. Nathan had disappeared under the water which she assumed had carried him way down river by this point. She sat on her knees, still trying to come to terms with what had transpired over the last few minutes. In the blink of an eye everything had changed. Her world was falling apart. She didn't know what to believe anymore. Sam had lied to them. He had tricked them. Her Sam, manipulated them. And for what? Some stupid treasure? Time and time again he had shown that that damn treasure was more important than his own life, more important than his brother's life, and more important than her life. But what stung the most, was that she had fallen for it, again. How could she have been so blind? There were so many red flags, looking back. But she had ignored it, because Sam was back and that was all that mattered.

Then there was Nathan, he had been through so much since Panama. He didn't deserve this. She refused to believe he hadn't survived the fall. That would be the last straw, if she gave into her doubt, that would be the end of it. She would break, for good this time, and there would be no Nathan to pick up the pieces.

"Jess…" Sam said her name softly. He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her away from the edge. She jerked back to life and shoved him away from her. "Don't touch me!" She hissed at him. He looked hurt, but she refused to be moved by his pain. What about her pain? Wat about Nathan, and all the chaos he had caused? She turned around to face Rafe who was still holding the gun. She stared him down unflinching. "Rafe stop, you don't have to do this. She won't be any trouble." Sam pleaded.

Rafe laughed, "Are we talking about the same person here? All she does is cause trouble!" He holstered his gun anyway though. Then He reached out a grabbed a tendril her hair that had fallen loose from her hair tie, and pushed it behind her ear. She met his gaze, fury shining bright in her eyes. She would not back down from him, he wasn't worthy of her fear. "I would never dream of killing her…we still have unfinished business don't we Jessi?" he taunted.

"Do you remember that night in New Orleans? Because I do…you were wearing that red sundress. It was in the summer, about seven years ago now. You were sitting by yourself when I walked into that bar…just waiting."

Jessica turned red as she remembered that night, the bile rising in her throat. Her eyes were burning and she wanted so badly to lash out at him. But she held her ground, it would be suicide. Rafe looked like a pretty boy, but the man was stronger than he looked. She had found that out the hard way.

Rafe chuckled, "Of course you do, it's not something you easily forget." His hand trailed down her throat and rested between her breasts. She sucked in a breath at the contact, all of her nerve ending were screaming in protest. Sam jerked towards her, "Don't touch her!" One of the soldiers took a threatening step towards him and it stopped him in his tracks. As angry as he was he knew he was no use to Jessica dead.

Rafe grabbed her necklace and ripped it off of her, sneering as he did so. Then he cast it into the river, the ring Sam had given her going with it. She flinched despite herself. He had thrown a piece of her over that ledge as well.

"Rafe! I've had enough of this." Nadine raised her gun at Jessica. "Put your gun down Nadine." Rafe ordered. Nadine shook her head, "We don't need her."

Jessica saw the change in Rafe's expression, and a chill went down her spine. His eyes glazed over, his smile slipped and his mouth set into a hard line. "I said put the gun down." There was an icy calm in his voice. "Rafe. She is just a liability." Nadine's voice wavered. "NOW!" He snarled at her. Nadine stepped back quickly and dropped her gun.

Just as quickly as it had appeared, the anger was gone. Hidden behind the mask of civility that Rafe wore so well, "Now then, Sam would you mind leading the way?"


End file.
